diff --git a/sys/net/application_layer/nanocoap/sock.c b/sys/net/application_layer/nanocoap/sock.c
index 6e3a7344b7..f7d8cb171e 100644
--- a/sys/net/application_layer/nanocoap/sock.c
+++ b/sys/net/application_layer/nanocoap/sock.c
@@ -173,8 +173,10 @@ ssize_t nanocoap_sock_request_cb(nanocoap_sock_t *sock, coap_pkt_t *pkt,
             /* fall-through */
         case STATE_RESPONSE_RCVD:
         case STATE_RESPONSE_OK:
-            DEBUG("nanocoap: waiting for response (timeout: %"PRIu32" µs)\n",
-                  _deadline_left_us(deadline));
+            if (ctx == NULL) {
+                DEBUG("nanocoap: waiting for response (timeout: %"PRIu32" µs)\n",
+                      _deadline_left_us(deadline));
+            }
             const void *old_ctx = ctx;
             tmp = sock_udp_recv_buf(sock, &payload, &ctx, _deadline_left_us(deadline), NULL);
             /* sock_udp_recv_buf() is supposed to return multiple packet fragments
@@ -198,7 +200,7 @@ ssize_t nanocoap_sock_request_cb(nanocoap_sock_t *sock, coap_pkt_t *pkt,
             }
             res = tmp;
             if (res == -ETIMEDOUT) {
-                DEBUG("nanocoap: timeout\n");
+                DEBUG("nanocoap: timeout, %u retries left\n", tries_left - 1);
                 timeout *= 2;
                 deadline = _deadline_from_interval(timeout);
                 state = STATE_REQUEST_SEND;
diff --git a/sys/net/application_layer/nanocoap/vfs.c b/sys/net/application_layer/nanocoap/vfs.c
index 9a1f058bc6..8948955713 100644
--- a/sys/net/application_layer/nanocoap/vfs.c
+++ b/sys/net/application_layer/nanocoap/vfs.c
@@ -66,12 +66,12 @@ int nanocoap_vfs_get(nanocoap_sock_t *sock, const char *path, const char *dst)
     int fd, res;
     char dst_tmp[CONFIG_SOCK_URLPATH_MAXLEN];
 
-    DEBUG("nanocoap: downloading %s to %s\n", path, dst_tmp);
-
     fd = _prepare_file(dst, dst_tmp, sizeof(dst_tmp));
     if (fd < 0) {
         return fd;
     }
+
+    DEBUG("nanocoap: downloading %s to %s\n", path, dst_tmp);
     res = nanocoap_sock_get_blockwise(sock, path, CONFIG_NANOCOAP_BLOCKSIZE_DEFAULT,
                                       _2file, &fd);
     return _finalize_file(fd, res, dst, dst_tmp);
@@ -82,12 +82,12 @@ int nanocoap_vfs_get_url(const char *url, const char *dst)
     int fd, res;
     char dst_tmp[CONFIG_SOCK_URLPATH_MAXLEN];
 
-    DEBUG("nanocoap: downloading %s to %s\n", url, dst_tmp);
-
     fd = _prepare_file(dst, dst_tmp, sizeof(dst_tmp));
     if (fd < 0) {
         return fd;
     }
+
+    DEBUG("nanocoap: downloading %s to %s\n", url, dst_tmp);
     res = nanocoap_get_blockwise_url(url, CONFIG_NANOCOAP_BLOCKSIZE_DEFAULT,
                                      _2file, &fd);
     return _finalize_file(fd, res, dst, dst_tmp);