Shopping Del Sol vs Paseo La Galería in Asunción

If you have read my Guide to Asunción, Paraguay, you’ll know that Shopping Del Sol and Paseo La Galería form the center of your stay in Asunción. They are two large, fancy, American-style malls in one of the fanciest neighborhoods of Asunción. And they are extremely popular with both Expats and locals alike.

Kevin and I have spent way more time in these two malls than we ever thought we could. As such, we are minor experts in the experience both malls provide. In today’s blog post, I’ll go over what to expect at both malls if you visit or stay in Asunción.

Overview of Shopping Del Sol and Paseo La Galería

Both malls are located near each other where the Ykua Sati, Las Lomas, and Villa Morra neighborhoods converge. In fact, the two malls are almost right across the street from each other. These three neighborhoods are some of the fanciest neighborhoods in Asunción. If you live in these neighborhoods, you’ll visit both malls at different times as they are the social hubs of these neighborhoods.

Of the two malls, Shopping Del Sol is larger. However, they are both large malls with a similar array of shops, restaurants, and services. While catering to the high-end of the income spectrum, both malls have luxury and middle-class stores and restaurants. The true main difference is the layout. Paseo La Galería has a vertical layout over six floors, whereas Shopping Del Sol is a traditional, two-story horizontal mall. In fact, if you are walking to Paseo La Galería from Avenida Santa Teresa, you may not even know where the mall is; you have to walk through a large restaurant courtyard before you step inside the actual mall.

Both malls offer plenty of parking if you are driving. They also have similar hours, with most shops closing by 9pm but restaurants staying open longer, especially on Fridays and Saturdays. You’ll also see plenty of uniformed security guards in both malls. But unlike Ecuador, where security guards are heavily armed, these guards wear suits and ties and drink maté.

Services at Each Mall

Both malls have a gym for those who like to work out. The gym at Paseo La Galería is an independent gym, but the one at Shopping Del Sol is a Smart Fit location (take the escalator by the Forever 21 down to level P2). We love Smart Fit! (Read our complete Smart Fit guide here.) We purchased a year of Black membership in Ecuador, which allows us unlimited visits to any Smart Fit throughout Latin America. Besides Ecuador, we have visited Smart Fit locations in Mexico City and Shopping Del Sol without any problems. If you travel around South America, get the Smart Fit Black membership – it is entirely worth it.

Both malls also have several banks and ATMs. Paseo La Galería also includes a Ueno Bank co-working location, similar to a Capital One Cafe in the U.S. I had to get a new retainer for my teeth, and I got it from a dentist inside Paseo La Galería (they used a 3D printer to print my retainer!). There are also Starbucks and Juan Valdez coffee shops in both malls. However, Shopping Del Sol has a special treat: a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf location! It is entirely random to find a CBTL in the middle of South America, but it is a real, genuine, bona fide CBTL serving real Ice Blendeds.

For moviegoers, there is a Cinemark at Paseo La Galería and an Itaú movie theater at Shopping Del Sol. Both feature several screens. Note which movies are dubbed and which are subtitled if you don’t speak Spanish; you’ll want the subtitled movies that have an English soundtrack.

Finally, both malls have a grocery store inside. Paseo La Galería has a Superseis (stylized S6), and Shopping Del Sol has a Delimarket. We didn’t realize this until after shopping at both stores, but the same company owns both brands. It will hit you once you shop at both, and you get a weird deja vu feeling shopping at the second one.

The Delimarket is more upscale and larger than the Superseis, so we prefer shopping at the Delimarket. However, you can get quite a bit at Superseis, which is helpful if you live closer to Paseo La Galería. And if you are from Uruguay or have been to Uruguay, you may also feel deja vu. Both brands are owned by the same company that owns Tienda Inglesa.

Clothes Shopping at Shopping Del Sol and Paseo La Galería

Both malls cater to upper-class shoppers, so don’t be surprised to find many upper-class clothing stores. Paseo La Galería has both a Mona Lisa and a SAX. These are both high-end department stores, similar to Palacio del Hierro in Mexico or Bloomingdales, Sacks 5th Avenue, or Needless Markup Neiman Marcus in the U.S. Shopping Del Sol has a Nueva Americana, its sole U.S.-style department store. If you are looking for high-end options in a department store-style setting, these three stores are your best options.

Both malls are full of small boutique clothing stores, including many international and American brands. For example, Paseo La Galería has American Eagle, Levi’s, Nike, New Balance, and Timberland stores, among other U.S. brands. Shopping Del Sol has a Forever 21 – which includes a men’s section, to our surprise! – Nike, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, and a Polo Ralph Lauren store. There is also a Patrol clothing store right across the street from Shopping Del Sol. Patrol is a high-end Paraguayan clothing brand, and Kevin and I almost bought some clothes from them if they just had Kevin’s correct size.

Food and Restaurants

We frequent both malls for food. Although they have different selections of restaurants, both offer options ranging from fast food to fine dining. However, we’d definitely say that the Food Court – Patio de Comidas – at Shopping Del Sol is a lot better for us. The food court at Paseo La Galería has fewer options despite probably being larger. Also, we noticed that a few stalls were vacant, which seems weird considering how busy the mall is. The Shopping Del Sol food court has many more options, even though the seating is more cramped than Paseo La Galería.

On the other hand, we prefer the fine dining options at Paseo La Galería over Shopping Del Sol. Not only do we feel there are more fine dining options, but they are all located in the lush, tropical courtyard on the bottom two levels of Paseo La Galería. The verdant atmosphere is fantastic, especially when you can sit outside when the weather is nice or during the evening. Shopping Del Sol also offers outdoor seating at its restaurants, but your view is of the parking lot.

Our Food Picks at Paseo La Galería

Our two favorite restaurants at Paseo La Galería are TGI Fridays and Almacén de Pizza. If you are looking for American food, you’ll have to go to TGI Fridays (on the first courtyard level, nivel -2) for dinner, as they serve a limited menu for lunch Monday through Friday. However, this is precisely when we go because we can get their famous Jack Daniel’s Chicken plate for Gs. 39,000 (around US$5.25). It is such a win – a tasty, home-cooked meal with fried mandioca (yuca) and a drink for as cheap as possible. It gets busy during lunch, especially if the weather isn’t good (for some reason, most of the outdoor tables aren’t covered).

We also like going to Almacén de Pizzas on the second courtyard level (nivel -1). As we note in our Gluten Free Guide to Asunción, Almacén de Pizzas – or AdP as they call it – offers a proper gluten-free menu. You can choose from gluten-free pizza, empanadas, and lasagna for the main course, plus a gluten-free brownie for dessert. They have a lovely outdoor patio overlooking the trees. And unlike TGI Fridays, most of the patio is covered, so it is available when it rains (except for one oddly placed table that gets soaked).

The food courtyard has other fine dining options, including a couple of steakhouses and a Paraguayan version of a pub, Lo de Osvaldo. Lo de Osvaldo seems cool if you are into fútbol, as they always have a game on their big-screen TVs. On the other hand, we recommend skipping the food court on the top level (level 3). The options here aren’t exciting and the general atmosphere could be better. The only place we go to is the frozen yogurt store to the right of the actual food court by the ATMs. They have an awesome gluten-free cheesecake!

Dining Options at Shopping Del Sol

We find the food court at Shopping Del Sol to be the better one. It has many more options and is much easier to navigate. Since we eat gluten-free, many of the food court options are off-limits to us. But the three places we frequent are Ese Lugar! Parrilla, Ja-virá, and Burger King. I really like Ese Lugar – Spanish for that place – because it is a buffet-style fast food place. You fill up your plate with the food from the buffet, and then you pay based on the weight of your food. They also serve meat fresh from the grill, meaning you can get your South American asado fix cheaply.

I write this blog as an ongoing memory of our travels. Some of the fondest memories I have of this food court involve watching soccer games while eating lunch and dinner. The mall always has fútbol games on the TVs, and it is easy to get a seat facing one of the TVs. We were treated to a soccer quadfecta: Copa América 2024, Euro Finals 2024, the Paris Olympics, and the Copa de Primera in Paraguay.

It was cool when Paraguay was playing, as many people ate and watched the games. But it was especially cool when Germany played in the Euro Finals. Paraguay has a small but very visible German population, and they knew when the games were on. One time, we came to eat lunch, and this group of Germans took up half of the food court to watch the game. And when Germany scored, it was like being at the stadium! It was quite cool to experience.

The only fine dining option at Shopping Del Sol we frequent is La Cabrera, at the northern end of the mall by the gas station. It is a steakhouse, and you’ll spend around US$70 for two people, not including alcoholic drinks. Our choice is to get the lomo de bife (beef steak). Note that the plates are designed to be shared, and if you are two people, you may not need a side dish as they stuff you full with appetizers and little side dishes included in the cover charge. What we do is order the large lomo – 700 grams – and a side dish, and then we take half of the lomo and side dish home for dinner. That way, we get two meals out of it!

We also tried Porchetta, and wow, it’s not good. We ordered two pork-based plates – the porchetta and the pork flank steak (matambrito) – and both cuts of pork were full of fat. After cutting away the fat, barely any actual meat remained. The cole slaw and fried mandioca on the side were fine, but the meat was so disappointing. We are not going there again.

Note that both malls also have hamburger chains, including McDonald’s and Burger King. There is also Mostaza – mustard in Spanish – which is an Argentine hamburger chain. We didn’t like Mostaza at all, preferring Burger King by far.

Quick Facts

Paseo La Galería: Av. Santa Teresa 1827, Asunción, Paraguay. Most stores open at 10am and close at 9pm Sunday through Thursday and 10 pm Friday through Saturday. The food court is open until 11pm Sunday through Thursday and midnight Friday and Saturday. You can find a full list of stores here on Paseo La Galería’s website.

Shopping Del Sol: Av. Aviadores del Chaco 1816, Asunción, Paraguay. Hours are about the same as Paseo La Galería. Note that Shopping Del Sol has a member rewards program that is a nice bonus if you plan to do a lot of shopping, but really not necessary as the rewards aren’t great. You can see the complete list of stores here on their website.

Let us know in the comments your experiences with either one of these malls and what you liked and didn’t like!