KSL City Mall guide for families: hours, parking and what to do with kids

KSL City Mall in Johor Bahru opens 10am to 10pm every day, parking is RM2.20 an hour with the surcharge, and the J100 bus from JB Sentral takes about 15 minutes for RM1.50. Three of our homestays are at KSL D'Esplanade, in the same development, so this is the guide we would hand a family on arrival.

Updated 16 October 2026 · CCSHomestay Malaysia

The basics

KSL City Mall is at 33 Jalan Seladang, Taman Abad, on the Causeway side of Johor Bahru. The KSL Hotel & Resort stands above it, and the KSL D'Esplanade residences belong to the same development. The mall's own directory lists shops on six levels: B, LG, G, L1, L2 and L4.

The mall keeps the same hours every day of the week and the doors open at 10am. The water park upstairs opens an hour earlier, at 9am. If your family wakes early, start there or have breakfast before you come down.

How do you get to KSL City Mall from the JB checkpoint?

KSL City Mall is about 15 minutes from JB Sentral on the J100 bus, which runs every 15 minutes from 7am and costs RM1.50, or RM8 to RM12 by Grab. By bus or train from Singapore you arrive at JB CIQ, which connects to JB Sentral, and both options start there.

The J100 bus

Take the escalator down between CIQ and JB Sentral to the bus terminal and walk to Bus Bay 2. The BAS.MY J100, run by Causeway Link, loops between JB Sentral and the main entrance of KSL City Mall. iPackTravel's bus guide, dated February 2026, records a bus every 15 minutes from 7am, a ride of about 15 minutes, a fare of RM1.50 to the mall and RM1.40 back, and a last departure from JB Sentral at 11pm. A YouTrip guide from May 2026 quotes about RM2.10 for the same ride. Either way it is small change. Older blog posts and the mall's own website still call this route F100. Same bus.

Grab

YouTrip puts the Grab ride from JB Sentral at about RM8 to RM12. A family with luggage should book the car, and a group of more than four needs a six-seater or two cars. Two adults with a day bag can take the bus.

Driving from Singapore, cross at Woodlands. The Tuas Second Link is the better crossing for Medini and Legoland, not for KSL.

Parking

The rate notice recorded by Parking In Malaysia on 18 May 2026 shows RM2.00 an hour for cars, every day including public holidays, plus a 10% surcharge. That is RM2.20 an hour. Four hours of shopping and lunch costs RM8.80. A full 10am to 10pm day costs RM26.40.

• Payment is by Touch 'n Go, Visa, Mastercard or MyDebit. No cash option is listed.
• There is a basement level with a 2.1 metre height limit, and a multi-level car park on Levels 3 to 6.
• Motorcycles park in the basement for RM2.20 per entry.
• For electric cars, ChargeSini has an 80 kW DC charger outdoors next to Starbucks and 22 kW points on Level 3 of the multi-level car park.
• Low on Touch 'n Go balance? Caring Pharmacy, Watsons and Lotus's on the Lower Ground floor all do reloads.

An older table on another parking site shows a three-hour first block on weekdays, so read the board at the entrance on your way in. If you are staying in one of our KSL units, ask us about parking for your unit when you book.

What to do with children

For a family, this is KSL's strong point. There are four things for children in one building.

The dinosaur park is on Level 7 of the hotel. The resort's website lists a single price for hotel guests and walk-in visitors: RM30 a person aged 3 and above, free for under-3s. Two adults and two school-age children come to RM120. Older social media posts show other prices, so confirm at the counter on the day.

It opens at 9am, an hour before the mall. On a hot day, use that. Swim first, come down for lunch once the shops are open, and keep Funtopia or a film for the afternoon when everyone wants air conditioning.

Groceries and the dull essentials

Lotus's hypermarket is at LG-26 and keeps mall hours, 10am to 10pm, public holidays included. For a group of five to ten that matters more than any restaurant list. Water, fruit, breakfast things and snacks for the drive are one lift ride away. On the same floor, Caring Pharmacy is at LG-071 and Watsons at LG-060. There is an RHB ATM on Level 2.

Monday is night market day

Every Monday a pasar malam sets up on Jalan Seladang, from the mall's main entrance down to the Grand Paragon Hotel. The road starts closing to traffic around 4pm and the stalls trade from about 5pm to 10pm. Expect dim sum on skewers, pancakes, steamed buns, Nyonya kueh, fruit and a big crowd.

Two things change on Mondays. After 3pm the J100 back to JB Sentral stops picking up at the main entrance and boards at the basement exit instead, outside KFC and Pizza Hut. Grab cars also struggle to reach the entrance. iPackTravel's advice is to walk about 500 metres to the Crystal Crown Hotel and book from there. If you are staying in the development, none of this matters. Walk down, eat, walk back.

An easy day from the apartment

1. 9am. Dinosaur Alive park on Level 7 while it is quiet.
2. 12 noon. Lunch in the mall. Lower Ground and Level 2 both have places to eat, including Meng Meng Roasted Duck on Level 2.
3. 2pm. Back to the apartment for a rest. Small children last longer in the evening after a nap.
4. 4pm. Funtopia on Level 1, or a film at GSC on Level 2.
5. 6pm. Lotus's for tomorrow's breakfast and drinking water.
6. 7pm. Dinner at the coffee shops and restaurants on the streets around the mall in Taman Abad and Taman Century, or the night market if it is Monday.

Staying two nights or more

One day covers the mall. For the second, the city has three easy outings from KSL, and each has a catch worth knowing before you promise it to the children.

• Johor Zoo opens 9am to 6pm from Wednesday to Monday and is closed on Tuesdays. Daytime tickets are RM10 for a Malaysian adult, RM5 for a child or senior and RM30 for a non-Malaysian of any age, with children under 5 free.
• The zoo's night safari runs 8pm to 11pm from Friday to Sunday and on public and school holidays, with last entry at 10pm. An ordinary weeknight misses it.
• Mid Valley Southkey keeps the same 10am to 10pm hours as KSL and has the bowling lanes and a second cinema for a wet afternoon. Our Mid Valley Southkey guide has its parking rates and the bus from JB Sentral.

Our Johor Bahru family itinerary turns these into a Saturday and Sunday plan around the 3pm check-in and 12pm check-out, with a three-day version that adds Legoland. The ticket sum for a city weekend there comes to RM163 for a Malaysian family of four and RM253 for a visiting one, which is about a fifth to a third of one Legoland day.

Staying at KSL

Our three homestays at KSL City Mall are whole apartments at KSL D'Esplanade:

• High City View: 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, up to 10 guests
• Lovely 2-Bedroom: 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, up to 7 guests
• Sunrise Suite: 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, up to 5 guests

Check-in is after 3pm and check-out is before 12pm. KSL suits a trip built around shopping, food and the Causeway. If Legoland is the main event, stay in Medini and read our Legoland Malaysia family guide. For Mid Valley Southkey, look at our Southkey units.

Questions families ask about KSL City Mall

Mall hours, address and shop locations are from the KSL City website and directory on 5 October 2026. Dinosaur Alive, Funtopia and GSC details are from the KSL Hotel & Resort website, and Lotus's hours from its store page, on the same day. Parking rates are from the rate notice recorded by Parking In Malaysia on 18 May 2026. Bus and night market details are from iPackTravel (February 2026 and April 2025), and the Grab and cinema prices from YouTrip's guide of May 2026. Johor Zoo and Mid Valley Southkey details are the ones sourced and dated on our Johor Bahru family itinerary, added here on 8 October 2026. Prices and hours change, so confirm before you travel. CCSHomestay Malaysia is not affiliated with KSL City Mall or the KSL Hotel & Resort.