Prague/budapest/amsterdam

kimt, just very roughly (we have too little information from you, lacking in your profile even where you live). Many cities in the US have direct connection to Amsterdam. Only few to Prague and Budapest. To make my initial flight shorter I would start with Amsterdam. Then fly to Prague (or Budapest). Use train between those two. To break long train ride (7 hours) have one day break in Brno or Bratislava. Then fly back to the US from Budapest (or Prague). If Prague before Budapest or vice versa I would decide according to airfare.

Those three places (all wonderful and quite different from each other, by the way) do not have an obvious order. So, I'd start by investigating transit. Use Kayak http://www.kayak.com/flights or Matrix ITA http://matrix.itasoftware.com/ to see what it will cost to fly into one and out of another from the US, and play around with the cities and order to see if one is much cheaper.

Next, see how you will get between them. For flights within Europe, use Skyscanner http://www.skyscanner.com/, and remember that not all routes have daily service. For trains, use the Bahn website http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en, following Rick's tutorial: http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/online-schedules. If you are taking the train, you will want to go Amsterdam then Prague then Budapest, or vice versa. If you are flying one or more legs, the order may work better differently.

The train between Prague and Budapest goes through Vienna. I stopped in Vienna, just because of that, for 3 nights/2days and thoroughly enjoyed it. I took late afternoon trains between the cities, to maximize my sightseeing time during the day.

kimt,

you dont say where you are located in the world so that could make a difference where you start/stop your trip.

as mentioned you can take the train from Prague to Budapest with a stop but that would depend on whats important to you.

To me,the order would depend on where you are located. For me and where i live since i done those citys this past Sept, its easy and i would do it over again in the order i took them. Prague> budapest > amsterdam. or Amsterdam>prague>budapest.

happy trails.

Unfortunately the train from Prague to Budapest does not go through Vienna but you still can go by train to Vienna and then from Vienna to Budapest.

Thanks. We are coming from Orlando FL.

The obvious route is to fly into Amsterdam then fly to Prague (its 13 hours by train and almost that long if you were to drive it). From Prague I would go to Vienna by train (about 5 hours). I am not a big fan of Vienna but you would be missing a great opportunity if you skipped over it. Besides, most people love the place. Then from Vienna to Budapest is about 3 to 3.5 hours by train. Then fly home out of Budapest.

With 2 weeks you could get more inventive and from Prague take the shuttle to Cesky Krumlov for a night and then another shuttle to Vienna (look up a company called Bean Shuttle). Melk makes a great day trip out of Vienna. From Vienna you could stop a night in Gyor on the way to Budapest and see the Archabbey at Pannanhalma. For a overnight trips out of Budapest consider Eger or Pecs.

Budapest to Amsterdam is a very, very long drive at just under 900 miles. It's also too far on a train for me.

You might be best served taking a train from Budapest to Prague and catching a cheap flight on EasyJet into Amsterdam

I would consider flying into Amsterdam, and from there taking the train to Prague, but with a stopover somewhere in Germany overnight to break up that long train ride. From Prague you could take a train to Budapest. About a 7 hour ride, so you might want to consider a night train.
Or this--from Prague, take the Student Agency bus to Cesky Krumlov and spend the night there, and from there take a private transfer to Vienna. Spend some time in Vienna and take the train from Budapest from there. Only a 3-4 hour train ride from Vienna to Budapest.