Travel from Passau to Salzburg, germany

Salzburg is a fairly distant destination. How many hours do you have for this outing, from Passau then back to Passau? Date of outing?

We are in passau on may 11, and Linz, Austria on may 10. Maybe our best option is to go on may 10. We have 7-8 hours. Thanks

Please keep in mind that if you go to Salzburg on your own and are late returning to the boat, it will have departed. It won’t wait for you. While more expensive, the boat will wait for its tour.

7-8 hours would make it possible to travel by train from Passau to Landshut or Regensburg. Regensburg is known for having Germany's best-preserved medieval town center. Landshut is also a nice place. The train ride to Landshut is direct; getting to Regensburg requires one connection. The train journey is 90 minutes in each direction.

Regensburg:
https://tallgirlbigworld.com/things-to-do-regensburg-germany/

Landshut:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g229466-Activities-oa0-Landshut_Lower_Bavaria_Bavaria.html

Train schedules:

https://int.bahn.de/en

Train ticket: the Bayern Ticket for two...

https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-germany.htm#Bayern_ticket

I think you mean Salzburg, Austria, not Salzburg, Germany. Salzburg, Germany is way over on the west side of Germany, kind of between Cologne and Frankfurt, and there are no train connections to it.

As far as Salzburg, Austria is concerned, May 10 would be better. Linz is only about an hour and 15 minutes from Salzburg, Austria. In fact, one of the connections between Passau and Salzburg goes through Linz, about half way. Also, that way if you missed the boat on the 10th, you could always go to Passau and get back on it the next day. You might even want to go to Salzburg from Linz and stay in Salzburg for the night, then catch up to your cruise ship in Passau.

Another place to go, depending on what you might like to see, is the nature center Falkenstein at Lindberg, Germany in the Bavarian Forest National Park. The station for Falkenstein is at Ludwigsthal, on the way from Plattling, on the Passau to Regensburg line, to Bayisch Eisenstein, on the Czech border. Falkenstein has a wildlife preserve with some wild animals that are free to roam in big fenced in areas, not pens.

I had to be amused. Germany is so populated and developed that non-domesticated animal are a rare and exciting thing to them. I came back to my home in Colorado. The next week there was a mountain lion sleeping in a tree in a town a couple of miles from me. (When it got dark, the cat went back into the mountains.) Shortly thereafter, we went up to Estes Park, to the Rocky Mountain National Park, and next to the visitors center there was a golf course with a herd of Elk on one of the greens. It was all cows with one bull elk with a rack so big he had to rest his chin on the ground. I guess they call that the "elk hazard"!

A wildlife preserve is a big thing to the Germans, but I've come to realize that here in Colorado, I'm blessed to live in one.

Or you could explore the Bavarian Forest, which is much closer to
Passau ... without spending most of your excursion on the road.

I spent a few days in Zwiesel, in the Bavarian Forest. In my opinion, the most interesting things in the park are the wildlife preserves. There are two; I've been to both. The one at Lusen, in the southern part of the park, is the largest, with the most wild animals. Again, IMO, it's the best one to see. It's closer to Passau, but apparently only accessible by buses. According to the Bahn, there are only three connection leaving Passau before noon. The one leaving at 7:30am, gets to the Lusen center just after 10am. The other two connections don't get to Lusen until 12:58, a little late for a one day side trip.

The other preserve is at Lindberg. It's smaller, with fewer animals, but you can get there entirely by rail. There is a rail connection leaving Passau at 8:19am, with one change at Plattling, getting to Ludwigsthal Bahnhof at 10:04 (1H45min). Then it's a 1km, 14 minute walk to the Wilderness House, but most of the animal pens are along the walk before you get to the Wilderness House.

There are hourly rail connections leaving Passau every hour after 8:19, all taking 1:45. That why I said to go to the northern preserve. It's smaller, with few animals, but you can leave Passau later, and still get to the preserve at about the same time, and you have a better, more and more regular, selection of connections.

If you only have one full day in Passau then spend it there.