We are two couples taking a Bike N Barge Danube trip late April - early May, 2024. We wish to visit several other places for about 12 days prior to starting our river trip from Passau, Germany. Arriving from the US, would love to travel primarily by train while there. Any suggestions/itinerary would be helpful, considering as well prevailing temps in mid-April. Thank you.

which airport you landing in?

seat61.com to understand trains
bahn.de to see local trains
NB the Danube passes through a bunch of countries all with their own train network. Bahn covers the link up pretty well but you may want to look at others depending on where you go.

In 12 days, you can go wherever you want.
If you land at MUC and want to do all by train, I would check Germany, Czech Republic, Western Austria and North italy

You have so many options. Give us an idea of what you're interested in and you will get more useful suggestions. City? Country? Art? Architecture? Museums? Churches? Food? What are you looking for?

Salzburg, Austria
Nuremberg, Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Thank you.

We are two couples taking a Bike N Barge Danube trip (from Passau) April 26 to May 4, 2024. We have decided to land in Amsterdam (from the US) on or around April 13 or 14, then wind our way down to eventually arrive in Passau on April 26. So we are looking at 12 days or so, spending time in Amsterdam/Netherlands, then Belgium, then perhaps flying (vs train) to Munich and spending a few days in Salzburg, Austria, before getting to Passau. Is Salzburg worth it, or should we stay on trains to take in Strasbourg? Any advice on must see places? We'd love to bike a bit in Netherlands, we're ok with city for a day but like rural areas, good, authentic food, easy transport - we won't be renting a car. Thanks for any input.

The whole of the Netherlands is covered in safe cycle paths so you really can go anywhere. I would struggle to say where is best but I like Zeeland, all the zones from Rotterdam to s'Hertongenbosch Arnhem Apeldoorn. Train transportation of bikes is a little harder than it used to be but it is possible if you want the bikes returned, or just take the train and hire a bike locally to tour around. Follow my name back to 2022 and you'll get some idea of what you can do and the tools you might need

Flying across Germany is a bit wrong, mainly because so much of Germany is worth visiting, also it isn't good for Climate Change.

I would look at using the train and perhaps stop on the Mosel, the Rhine, Rothenburg, Ulm, Konstanz (choose any or all) plus a bunch of other wonderful places until you hit Munich.

While we aren’t into biking like Bilbo and others, something we greatly enjoyed was biking around the tulip fields near Leiden. I highly recommend a stop at Keukenhof, the gardens will be in full bloom mid April and make for a magnificent sight.

IMO the most scenic itinerary goes through the Rhine Valley: Cologne - Coblence - Mainz - Speyer - Mannheim.
You may then proceed to Wuerzburg and the Tauber Valley (Romantische Strasse).

Agree with the tulip fields and, if you can get tickets, Keukenhof.

Köln, the Mosel valley, Würzburg all stand out in my memory. Ulm too, with an exceptional cathedral. You’ll need to spend some time on the Bundesbahn web site to work out what’s possible.