Before I begin, I wanna say that I know it is still a bit early to ask this, but I want to buy my tickets early, to not run any risk of missing my chance and all tickets be sold.Having said that...

I am very excited for Gamescom!Not only it will be my first conference ever, but my first conference will be Gamescom!It will be the first time that I will have the chance to try games that will only release much later, not to mention to try the latest techs, such as VR!Hell, if Im lucky enough, Nintendo may have already announed NX and have it shown in Gamescom!So saying that Im looking forward to this does not make my expectations justice.

But Im inexperienced in all of this.I have no idea about how many days Ill need to have a decent look on everything, how much things cost to buy there(compared to trying to buy elsewhere), which days are better and so on.So thats why I come to you, oh mighty vgchartz users, to enlighten me with your wisdow!The main topics I would like answered are this:

-How many days are enough to have a good look at everything?Have in mind that I want to try VR as much as possible, and I have heard that the lines for those are big.

-Which days I should go?Is it better to go at the beggining or at the end?Is there an advantage to go latter or early, or is it all the same?

-How much money would I spend there?(Im currently in germany, so flight costs are a non issue for me)I mean, with food and transportation(general Bus prices), those kind of stuff.And if you know, is buying things in the conference itself is expensive?

Any kind of information, be it silly things like if the food there is good, to your own experience in gaming conferences, are useful.So I thank you guys in advance!

uhm.. were are you from? traveling depends on distance but what you should do is book ahead at airbnb

some people know the fair is then and prices are high.. but you can get some fools who didn't jack up the price for that period.. hotels are way too expensive around that time

Oh, I forgot to mention it.Ill update it.

Currently Im in germany, and I will stay at least until the end of Gamescom, so I wont have to worry about that.

alright, then you can go probably by train to Cologne, shouldn't be too expensive, or a cheap bus like http://www.goeuro.com/
early booking can get you discount.. 

food &  drinks should be gotten outside the fair.. always expensive inside the convention.. like 3,50 euro for a soft drink
so get a backpack full of food at a local supermarket..

Waiting is long.. plan ahead what you want to play/see.. its super crowded so get there early to play the stuff you want.. Go for the big titles at the beginning of the day or at the end.. otherwise its a long wait.. go play smaller titles, its less crowded and still lots of fun... be ahead of time for presentations or events.. don't go to events were they are throwing shitty stuff like t-shirts and keycords into the crowds, not worth the time wasted there and chances are low that you catch anything.

I think i spend like 6 hours at Gamescon in 2013?.. that was enough cause it can get hot and very tiring with all the waiting..
Just make sure to prepare yourself and list things you want to see/play.. cause you can go wander around and wasting time quickly

but if you want to spend like 2 days you should get an Airbnb place like right now.. i already checked and prices already hicked up.. depending where you are in germany it might be cheaper just to take the train or bus 4 times then staying a night in cologne around that time

I went to Gamescom in 2013 and Tokyo Game Show in 2015. Both conferences were awesome! You're in for something very special.

1. After 2 full days I had seen the things I wanted to see but it depends on what you'd like to try. I wanted to try (PS)VR but the line would've taken up nearly a whole day so I skipped that. Considering your interest in VR you might wanna go more than 2 days or at least show up really early and run for the VR booths XD You could get lucky though. Just before closing I went by the Battlefield 4 closed booth. People had been waiting in line for 6 hours but it was the last match of the day and they needed a few more people in order to have 2 full teams so my buddy and I got in without waiting ;)

2. I went the first 2 days. I don't think it matters though. There might be some exclusive talks/presentations by developers in the first few days but at the same time it's probably less crowded the last 2-3 days. It was insanely crowded when I went but it kinda added to the experience :)

3. When you aren't going to spend big money on transportation, you can do it fairly cheap depending on your choices of course. Hotel or camp site. Food inside or outside Gamescom. Buying merchandise or not. Etc. I can highly recommend one of the camp sites only 10 minutes walk from Gamescom. You save the costs of transportation and it's cheaper than Hotels which are REALLY expensive during Gamescom! Regarding food we just bought 1 meal a day inside Gamescom. It's actually ok but quite expensive so if you're on a really tight budget eat a large breakfast and go outside to eat again in the evening. IIrc you can't reenter after leaving before the next day and (again iirc) you can't bring in your own food. Merchandise isn't that much more expensive than buying online.

4. Buy your tickets online in advance! Depending on the number of visitors, people without tickets risk to be refused entrance. Besides, the line for buying tickets is huge. If you already have a ticket, you're guaranteed access but it's still recommendable to show up early to avoid spending most of the day in line outside of the magic :D

Enjoy your time and let us know how great it is. Also PICS!

Edit: Some of my friends stayed in the Gamescom Camp in Jugendpark. Really cheap (€29.5) and great atmosphere. We visited them one night and people were playing Mario Kart and other games projected on sheets hanging from cars. But you have to get up quite early and walk for half an hour or take a bus as it's on the wrong side of the river Rhine.

? you can bring your own food... 

ow don't forget your ID cause you get an age wristband and depending on your age you might not see 16 or 18+ stuff

also thursday is the "less" crowded day.. friday and the weekend are busier 

Ok. I couldn't remember. Then that's definitely the thing to do if you're on a tight budget ;)

Edit: Weird. I just asked my buddy and he also seems to remember that you weren't allowed to bring your bag. You had to leave it in a locker before entering.

Thanks you guys for the info!Ill be buying my tickets and accomodations by the weeks end(they are really expensive already), but you guys have really helped me!

I'm not sure how similar Gamescom is to EGX other than size, but these are my recommendations and things I did :

1) buy tickets early
2) eat out and bring snacks with you. Food is usually average at best and over priced.
3) being a hand held for those long waits or something to keep you occupied.
4) go with a friend or a group of friends. It makes the waiting much easier.
5) there might be lots of stalls selling gaming goods etc, they are usually more expensive. If you really want the stuff, take a picture of it and find it online.

Last but not least, I found a way to skip all the queues. Me and my friend casually walked right to the front and said, do we still have to queue if we don't want to play the game, but just see it? It threw off everyone we asked and they let us skip the queue. We got to chill longer in the spaces than others, we got to speak to reps for longer as they were curious why we didn't want to play and some even let us play anyway.

The reason I have for not wanting to play was something along the lines of, "I love games and been playing them since.... These queues are too long and if it means I don't get to see everything, I rather sacrifice playing some to get to watch them all. The developers have put too much effort in and we should get to see and tell them how much we appreciate it, even if we don't get to play it."

We managed to see every game, play a few, speak to lots of developers and even have pictures taken with them.

I am lucky since working as a Videogame Journalist gives you the Press day. But my Advice is, just like the others already said: Plan ahead what you want to see or play. Plus: Only 1 isn't enough. at least 2 days as a normal visiter.
And the last: Have fun! It is a great experience.