How to Find Your Way around gamescom and Cologne

Getting around gamescom can be hard if you've never been before. We collected all info on accessibility, food and help on-site as well as useful tricks for getting around Cologne and finding the places you want to be at in the city.

Finding Your Way Through gamescom

You can find a general hall plan as well as the in-depth hall allocations on the gamescom website. There are also info points you can ask any question regarding the fair grounds. These are located at each entrance and the following junctions:

• Passage from Hall  2 to 4
• Passage from Hall 3 to 11
• Passage from Hall 4 to 5
• Passage from Hall 4 to 10
• Passage from Hall 5 to 10
• Passage from Hall 10 to 11 (West)
• Passage from Hall 10 to 11 (East)
• Northern Boulevard in front of Hall 7

The business area of gamescom consists of halls 3, 4 and 5, while the consumer area takes up all of the halls numbered 6 to 11. devcom and gamescom congress take place in the Confex building that borders halls 1 and 3. Halls 1 and 2 are generally unused during gamescom.

The halls of KoelnMesse are bigger than they seem in the beginning. Especially the long hallways and the double-layered halls 4, 5 and 11 can lead to longer than expected ways. Plan at least 15 minutes of walking time between your dates, more if you need to go from the business area to some of the consumer halls on the far side of the fair grounds. Halls 11 and 8 are the farthest from the business area. Apart from publishers that might send you to their consumer booth for some reason, the most interesting hall for business visitors and journalists will be Hall 10.2, because it houses the indie areas, most notably among them the giant Indie Arena Booth. Fortunately, hall 10 is right next to the business area. Take note however to use the correct escalator in front of Hall 10: The place is double-layered, with 10.1 being below and 10.2 being the upper hall floor.

Accessibility

The fair offers a hall map that includes all barrier-free toilets, elevators and help stations. You can download it here as a PDF.

All booths at gamescom have mandatory accessibility specifications, among them that at least the entrance to the booth is barrier free. You can find the official accessibility guidelines here and download them as PDF here.

All halls at gamescom have a barrier-free toilet. There are lifts in place in almost all halls that can accomodate wheelchairs. You can find the general information on accessibility for visitors here. If you need assistance of any kind, you can also call the Messewache (security office) under the following phone numbers:

• Messewache (security office) North: +49 221 821-2551
• Messewache (security office) East: +49 221 821-2550

Drinks & Food

While many booths in the business area provide smaller snacks and drinks for their appointments, it’s not necessarily a given that you get fed everywhere you got. Here are some tips on how you can save money on drinks and food and keep safe during the European summer heat.

August in Cologne can get as hot as 35 degrees Celsius or 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The most important thing to bring with you apart from your tickets is therefore a bottle of water. All tap water in Germany is drinkable unless otherwise stated, so it is also no problem to fill up your bottles in the fair bathrooms. Keep in mind that while the business area is climate-controlled and generally much cooler than the outside, the consumer halls are not, and they can get hot and stuffy. Plan accordingly if this is a big strain on your body.

There are Snack Points in the consumer halls, but they are few and far between and also generally expensive. This goes for both drinks and food, so bring snacks as well, especially if you have to mind your blood sugar. If you need to buy bigger meals on site, there are food courts in Halls 10.2 and 10.1, as well as in the passages between Halls 3 and 11 and Halls 10 and 11. You can download a plan with all Snack Points and Food Courts here.

If you want to get dinner or need different foods than the fair grounds provide, your best option is to cross the Rhine into Cologne proper.

Finding Your Way Through Cologne

The fair ground is located in Deutz, directly on the Eastern side of the Rhine at the train station Köln Messe/Deutz. There is not much in terms of restaurants around, although with the help of Google Maps, you will probably find smaller eateries if you are in a rush. If you want to find a whole range of restaurants, your best bet is to cross the Rhine. Directly across from the fair is Cologne city center, and its full of restaurants and many sightseeing opportunities, not least the famous Cologne Cathedral of course. You can take a nice walk over the Deutzer Brücke (Deutz Bridge) directly next to the train station Köln Messe/Deutz south of KoelnMesse, but you don’t have to: Your gamescom ticket includes tickets for the Cologne public transport service VRS on all fair days. You can take the suburban trains (S-Bahn) 11 and 12 from Köln Messe/Deutz to Cologne Main Station for example and then walk comfortable into the Old City from there. Or you can take the tram lines 1, 3, 4, 9 or 14 from the plaza south of Köln Messe/Deutz for two or three stations to Heumarkt and Neumarkt (confusing, yes, but at least they are right next to each other) and then walk into the Old City from the south.