We have one extra night in Bavaria....Passau or Regensburg?

For our honeymoon in mid October, we have one night available in-between our other travels in Bavaria and Austria and we absolutely cannot decide between spending the day and night in Passau or Regensburg. Can you please help? With only one night to stay, which should we stay in? Please give your vote and help me decide!

We're starting with a couple of days in Munich where we will visit Garmisch and Fussen, then 3-4 nights in Salzburg. We want to take the train from Salzburg to either Regensburg or Passau before renting a car and driving to our vacation rental outside of Rothenburg ob Tauber. We will be able to visit Rothenburg and possibly Dinkelbuhl, Nuremberg and/or Bamberg during our stay in Franconia, but we have the extra night to fill in and both Regensburg and Passau look wondeful, so how do we decide? Please help with any and all input on both of these locations. thanks!

I would personally pick Regensburg, but there are many worse places to spend time in than Passau, that's for sure.

Picking up something else in your post though...

to either Regensburg or Passau before renting a car and driving to our vacation rental outside of Rothenburg ob Tauber. We will be able to visit Rothenburg and possibly Dinkelbuhl, Nuremberg and/or Bamberg during our stay in Franconia

That suggests that after Passau/Regensburg, you will driving direct to Rothenburg, and might bypass Nurnberg altogether. In which case, i would offer an extra possibility. Train from Salzburg to Nurnberg (possibly stopping in Regensberg or Passau for a few hours/day en route), then stay the night in Nurnberg and collect your car there. Nurnberg has plenty to offer, a better selection/offers when it comes to car rental, and it also means that to visit, you won't be driving in/out of the centre on your way past, and then having to find somewhere to park as well. You can collect the car after you have seen Nurnberg.

I'm not saying that is necessarily a better option, and you may have reasons for not wanting to stay in Nurnberg, but it's certainly not a bad one.

On a different note, I don't really know Dinkelbuhl, but really like Bamberg, and especially if you are beer fans, Bamberg is very highly recommended.

Quoting Gelli

I would personally pick Regensburg, but there are many worse places to spend time in than Passau, that's for sure.

Picking up something else in your post though...

to either Regensburg or Passau before renting a car and driving to our vacation rental outside of Rothenburg ob Tauber. We will be able to visit Rothenburg and possibly Dinkelbuhl, Nuremberg and/or Bamberg during our stay in Franconia

That suggests that after Passau/Regensburg, you will driving direct to Rothenburg, and might bypass Nurnberg altogether. In which case, i would offer an extra possibility. Train from Salzburg to Nurnberg (possibly stopping in Regensberg or Passau for a few hours/day en route), then stay the night in Nurnberg and collect your car there. Nurnberg has plenty to offer, a better selection/offers when it comes to car rental, and it also means that to visit, you won't be driving in/out of the centre on your way past, and then having to find somewhere to park as well. You can collect the car after you have seen Nurnberg.

I'm not saying that is necessarily a better option, and you may have reasons for not wanting to stay in Nurnberg, but it's certainly not a bad one.

On a different note, I don't really know Dinkelbuhl, but really like Bamberg, and especially if you are beer fans, Bamberg is very highly recommended.

Good suggestion, which we may look into. We were vaguely interested in Nuremberg, but it does seem rather large and overwhelming. We will be staying in Munich for three nights and thought that maybe we could check out some of the smaller cities afterward, which is why we were choosing between Regensburg and Passau for an overnight trip....I'm essentially just going to wait for plenty of responses on the two forums that I am active on in order to help us make our decision. As far as Bamberg goes, do you have any estimate on driving time between Rothenburh ob Tauber and Bamberg?

Passau is very nice (I studied at the university there) and in summer I would strongly recommend that you go to Passau. One of the main attractions in Passau however is the Organ in the Cathedral, there are daily concerts in summer and it is truly worth the trip. But since you are going in late October I am not sure whether the concerts will still be in session. Check with the tourist information in Passau before you go, see http://www.passau.de Other things to see and do are a cruise on the Danube and a visit to the Veste Oberhaus.

One more fact about Passau: It is an ideal starting point for doing a day trip to Cesky Krumlov. Getting from Passau to Cesky Krumlov is a bit complicated, but doable with careful planning. You take the bus to the village Haidmühle, walk across the border and then travel by train from Cerny Kris to Cesky Krumlov. The route is very nice since it travels the ultimate backroads and then goes through the Sumava national park.

Other tips:

If you are renting a car for the trip, look into renting a caravan/mobile home. In October a caravan should cost only a little bit more than a car and you can save money on accomodation. Camping sites are plenty and staying at a camping site with a mobile home should cost approx. 30 EUR per night for 2 people. Since a private pension is about 50-70 EUR per per night it makes sense to do the math.

If you are mainly interested in Northern Bavaria (Franken), consider flying into Frankfurt. Rothenburg ob der Tauber is closer to Frankfurt than Munich.

Don't plan everything out yet, leave time and space for spontaneity. You usually get the best tips from locals when you are already there, so be willing to change your plans instead of sticking to a strict schedule.

I lived in Munich for a little while so have been lucky enough to visit both, but I'd recommend Regensburg out of the two.

Have fun!