First-timer's guide · Nov 16–19, 2026 · Düsseldorf
Working Medica 2026 for the first time.
4,821 exhibitors, 78,000 attendees, and a rhythm you only learn by working it. Here's what matters — for the booth side and the buying side — plus the Düsseldorf logistics nobody puts in the brochure.
If you're exhibiting
New exhibitor tips
Bring your exhibitor admission to the visa appointment
Germany stopped requiring organiser invitation letters for fair visas in July 2013 — but exhibitors who present the Messe's exhibitor admission (Aussteller-Zulassung) with the application can have the visa issued free of charge. Request the admission document early and give it to every team member travelling.
MEDICA and COMPAMED are one trip
COMPAMED, the medical components and supplier show, runs alongside MEDICA on the same grounds. If you sell components, the buyer walking your stand may have come for the other show — know which halls your category actually sits in.
Use the stand-cost calculator before you commit
Messe Düsseldorf publishes a stand-area cost calculator (Standflächen-Kostenrechner). Run it before negotiating space: Düsseldorf build and service costs surprise first-time exhibitors more than the space rental does.
Four days of clinical buyers means four days of specifics
Your visitor is a hospital purchaser, distributor or clinician evaluating regulatory status, CE marking, service coverage and lead time. Have the documentation on the stand, and record which certification each buyer asked about — that detail decides the follow-up.
If you're visiting or buying
New visitor tips
Buy the ticket online — it is cheaper and skips the queue
Online tickets cost less than on-site and give direct entry without waiting. Vouchers from exhibitors redeem in the same online shop.
The premium ticket buys an hour of quiet
It covers MEDICA and COMPAMED for the full run, plus the Wearable Technologies Conference Europe, MEDICA MEDICINE + SPORTS, the International Sports Pharmacy Symposium, exclusive masterclasses and the VIP room in Hall 1 — and exclusive early entry one hour before opening via Entrance South. On a floor this size, that hour is the real product.
No invitation letter needed for the visa
Since 2013 German consulates do not require an organiser invitation for fair-visit visas. Contact the German embassy or consulate in your country directly; the organiser will not issue a letter.
Düsseldorf fills completely — book through the city service
MEDICA is one of the largest medical B2B fairs in the world and the city sells out. The organiser links its hotel and city-info service; Cologne and Duisburg are on the S-Bahn if Düsseldorf is gone.
Capture the regulatory answer, not the brochure
What matters after MEDICA is CE/FDA status, distribution rights in your market, and lead time. Photograph the stand sign with the spec sheet and voice-note the regulatory answer while it is fresh.
How the days flow
- —Day 1: the biggest international turnout — distributors and hospital groups do their first pass.
- —Days 2–3: the working days; conference programmes run alongside and pull specialists off the floor at intervals.
- —Final day: quieter halls, easier access to senior staff, and the best day for distribution and pricing conversations.
Düsseldorf logistics
Getting there
Messe Düsseldorf, Stockumer Kirchstraße. U78 from the main station runs directly to Messe Ost/Stockumer Kirchstraße; Düsseldorf Airport is roughly 15 minutes away, one of the shortest airport-to-fairground hops in Europe.
Where to stay
The organiser runs a hotel and city-info service. Düsseldorf sells out during MEDICA week — Cologne, Neuss and Duisburg are all commutable by regional train and routinely cheaper.
On the grounds
Restaurants, snack bars, bistros and self-service outlets across the halls; the Service-ABC lists what is where. Entrance South is the premium-ticket early entry.
The tip every guide agrees on
Capture at the booth. Never "the stack for later."
Whichever side of the aisle you work at Medica 2026, DaGaMa turns photos of cards, badges, and products into a structured Google Sheet you own — in WhatsApp, Telegram, or WeChat. Free for your first 24 hours.
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