The night before, inPassau

Hotel Wilder Mann

‘Close to the city’s boat quays’, in the hotel’s words — it publishes no distance.

Shares a four-building old-town complex with the Glasmuseum Passau, opened in 1985 by Neil Armstrong.

The classic old-town address, and the one that calls itself 'an ideal central base for guests of Danube boat tours and river cruises' — with the Glass Museum downstairs, open daily 9–17, to see before checkout. No star rating is published, and the hotel gives no walking distance to the quay: close, not measured.

Hotel König

Untere Donaulände 1 — 'direkt an der Donau liegend (Fritz-Schäffer-Promenade)', ship landing stages immediately outside

Own underground garage (€20 a night per the hotel), on the Danube cycle path between the pedestrian zone and the old town, about 800 m from the Hauptbahnhof.

The riverfront pick, full stop: the hotel says coach parking is right outside the door, the landing stages are with it, and if your ship is at the Altstadt quay embarkation day is a walk of a few hundred metres. A taxi from the station runs about €10, per the hotel.

Altstadt-Hotel Passau

'Direkt am Donauufer gelegen', at the Dreiflüsseeck

35 modern rooms, a Danube terrace and a breakfast room the hotel says looks out over the river and the castles, with about 12 restaurants within a five-minute walk.

The quiet end of the peninsula, where the three rivers meet — a short walk back to the Römerplatz berths, with breakfast served to the view the Oberhaus crowd climbs for. Smaller and newer in feel than the Wilder Mann: a different kind of old-town stay, not a lesser one.

Hotel Residenz Passau

Riverside in the old town — no distance published.

Booking.com describes a riverside old-town hotel about 100 m from St. Stephen's Cathedral and Residenzplatz.

The boutique-scale option a few minutes from the cathedral and the Fritz-Schäffer-Promenade berths, which puts the noon organ concert on your doorstep. The hotel publishes little itself, so every fact here is Booking.com's — worth double-checking the room before you commit.

Mandarin Oriental, Munich

Matsuhisa Munich (Japanese-Peruvian, by Nobu Matsuhisa) and The Terrace rooftop with city views; Forbes says the Hofbräuhaus is 'situated just feet from' the hotel.

For the Munich overnight most Passau embarkers take: Forbes puts it 28–35 minutes from MUC, and from there it's the train or your line's transfer east. Dinner at Matsuhisa the night before is the best meal on this page — in Munich, not Passau.

Rosewood Munich

Kardinal-Faulhaber-Straße 1 in Old Town Munich, with the Asaya Spa, a pool, Brasserie Cuvilliés for Bavarian classics and Bar Montez with live jazz.

The grand new-build choice for a Munich night before the Passau transfer — the spa and pool matter after a transatlantic flight, and Brasserie Cuvilliés gives you the Bavarian dinner without the beer-hall. Michelin lists it at two Keys; Forbes doesn't rate it in 2026, which is absence of a rating, not a verdict.