4 countries / 5 cities in 10 days!! NEED HELP PLEASE!

Well, I like apartments but with so few nights in any one place, that might be more tiring than anything. Europe has smaller 2 star pensions to consider for a local flavour (if that matters). Booking sites like Booking dot com will have these listed. Whether they will have triple rooms (which is what you need for 3 persons in a room), that will need some checking. Unlike American hotels, you can't just slip a 'kid' into the room assuming they would stay free.
As to how to get form A to B to C, I recommend rome2rio website for looking at transport options. This is the first layer way to research. From there, you want to go to the transport website to confirm timetables and prices.
seat61 website is about train travel. There is also a page for comparing buying point to point train tickets vs some sort of rail pass. Know on trains that need reservations, passes do not cover the reservation costs so may lose their budget intention.
As to must-sees, I consider this a very personal thing. I would spend time in museums and bird watching...doubt that would be your family's interest. I recommend getting guidebooks out of the library. Or as your son to do some research at the city's tourist bureau sites.

All these trips can easily done by train. The mentioned ManInSeat61 will give you all the practical information you need on the connections, including the advice that 2nd class is comfortable enough.
A rail pass will probably not be economical, especially not when you buy your tickets some 2 months in advance to benefit from heavily discounted prices. Apart from the national railway companies running these trains, tickets can be bought from reputable agents such as Loco2 and Trainline. RailEurope is not advised.

I'm sure you are talking about a trip in 2020, right?

Can you not stay in the hotels the symphony will be staying in? It seems that will be the most economical option in terms of money as well as time. I believe 2 nights is probably too few for options other than hotels. This is a whirlwind tour and if you plan to attend all the performances, you will want to be close so you don't lose time in traveling to the venues. I assume cathedrals or churches located in the historic centers of these wonderful cities.

Definitely travel by train. Vienna to Bratislava is just one hour or so and you can buy tickets day of. I would suggest just one night in Bratislava and would put the extra day to Munich since you will be jet lagged or Vienna and Budapest could definitely have another day. To travel from Munich to Salzburg, you can use a Bayern ticket also bought day of. There are some time of day restrictions with the Bayern ticket. To go from Salzburg to Vienna you can purchase a ticket from OeBB ahead of time or for about the same price you can buy a Westbahn ticket on that train. I don't know about the travel to Bratislava to Budapest.

In Munich, look at Hotel Uhland. In Salzburg. A great family owned, budget friendly option for an inn close to the train station and a 15 minute walk to the old town is Hohenstauffen. In Vienna, I like Hotel Austria. The breakfasts at all three of the inns are incredible and included in the room rate. Its been a while since I've been to Budapest. I stayed at the Best Western Parlament Premier. It was spotless, great rooms and breakfasts. We didn't mind the locations, some might think it is not central enough. It is about 10 minutes from major sites. I wouldn't stay in an apartment for such a short time and also if you are new to those cities, a hotel/inn can provide more help with sites and logistics.

You can find good summaries of must-see sights in each country and city section at https://www.ricksteves.com/europe. Not on those lists, but still always at the top of our list, would be a walk through each historic old town (some larger than others in these cities). Rick has free audio versions of his walking routes in Munich, Vienna, and Salzburg.

We don't have all these destinations in a single guidebook, but RS Eastern Europe includes Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest. Or RS Vienna, Salzburg & Tirol also includes Bratislava. Munich and Budapest each have their own books, too. If you're only in Munich for one night, and jet-lagged at that, you probably won't see much of the city.

The itinerary is all right even if a bit rushed. It's doable. Given that itinerary to be done in that time duration, I could easily do it but would skip Bratislava. Spend that extra time in Budapest or Vienna instead.

My choice is to stay in small hotels and Pensionen, I don't use AirB&B or VRBO...your choice and decision.

I would only travel by train and a few times by bus. Your travel plan is easily done by train.

What time do you land in Munich?

We land in Munich at 9am on June 11th -- yes, this year! It was a late-decision to follow my daughter's group through Europe.

I appreciate all of the feedback!!

Another vote for skipping Bratislava and adding one extra night each to Vienna and Budapest. If you really have your heart set on setting foot in Slovakia, just go there for an afternoon while in Vienna.

My limited experience with trips of this nature (two sons in band) is that the tour company has a shadow tour for the parents. Is that being offered? If so I would take it. Solves a lot of the problems.

Great time to arrive over there, I usually land between 10-11 am. The earlier the better, Munich airport is one of very best...good food facilities. Take the S-8 or S-1 to the central train station, Munich Hbf.

I stay in a simple Pension across from the station...very convenient, only a minute or two to reach the Munich Hbf underground passage.

i trust you understand that your daughter simply has to have her bag in the hall at 6AM or whatever, and the Company Manager hands out tickets at the rail station. Doing it on your own, with a room change very two days can get tedious, fast. It's not actually that hard, but it's more intimidating for a first trip to Europe. (I don't mean language, that won't be a problem in hotels and at rail stations.)

You have a vast amount to learn (like which trains require reservations, which trains can't be used with a bargain ticket, where the luggage racks are in each type of coach, what those "Zone A" signs over the platforms mean), and learn in a hurry. I think you should buy Rick's Austria book just for the novice traveler material. I hope you have reasonable domestic travel experience, like what to do when the room is not ready at 10AM, or what a local breakfast might consist of.

I would expect hotels to be busy by the middle of June, so I would not put off decision making. This is an imposing task - Not the travel, but doing it in sync with an already planned tour. If you could change dates to suit train or hotel availability, or substitute cities, it would be a lot easier. I hope you understand that the internet does not provide conclusive answers to "best-lodging" and "must-sees". You are at the mercy of those who happen to see your post, and where they have been. Often, the "favorite" hotel they recommend is already sold out, because they read that it was someone else's favorite! So you have to, say, read Trip Advisor, where you need to screen for phony or useless reviews, and read ten reviews before you put a place on your list of five to try and book in each place. This is hours and hours of work.

Well, I prefer using Booking dot com because the reviews are actually screened and confirmed hotel users. It makes it relatively easy to do some short listing for choices. TripAdvisor has gotten so cumbersome to get real hotel reviews and choices without all their 'hotels for sale' that it is pretty much useless. What you need is what is available .
Sometimes you need to just make it work rather than make it the 'perfect trip'.
Do check out the suggestion of the 'fan tour' following your daughter's bus.
Also, it might help to know whether she is sleeping with you or sticking to the symphony group. You might manage to avoid the 6 a.m. luggage call.

1. Take the hotels that your daughter’s group are and find one in the area of each of them to book. Teenagers like their independence, all they need is the family showing up everywhere they are.
2. Forget AIRBNB etc., go with hotels you are staying too short of a time at each venue to make it work.
3. Also, understand the distance between the train stations and your selected hotels as you are changing locales every 2 days.
4. Definitely use trains and study the seat61 website.

Good luck, let us know how the trip goes.

If I were you, I would get the appropriate Rick Steves Guidebooks-Salzburg, Eastern Europe-ASAP at a local bookstore or Amazon Prime and use them to decide your own must-sees.

First, think of it as doing a mini-version of The Amazing Race, and pack accordingly- you are your own pack mule and will wheel or carry your bags a lot on this route. (I'm not always a 'pack light' person, but for this kind of trip, definitely.) Given the relatively compact footprint of the trip, train really does make sense. From a logistics standpoint, I'd aim for 2-3 star properties near train stations- the train station will generally have a good connection to the local mass transit section or taxi stand and should also have a held luggage service if you can't get into a hotel right after arrival.

I also think there's nothing wrong with a well-reviewed chain hotel with a front desk staffed 24 hours a day. Go to an Ibis/Mercure/Novotel (part of the French Accor conglomerate) or Motel One (German 'budget design' chain) and your fellow guests are far more likely to be European nationals than they are if you pick something from a guide book published in North America.

Everything can be done.

1) Is this a school symphony or a professional orchestra? If it is a school symphony, have they offered any kind of tour for parents?

2) Use the train. They are simple to use. A pass would be a waste of money. No route mentioned is long. You can get schedules at:

https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml

Be aware that you are responsible for your luggage on trains. No checking or porters. There are luggage racks at the end of the cars for larger luggage but carry on size can go either on the rack above the seats or in between.

Personally, I would then go to the actual train operators website to book the trains. A rental car would be more pain than anythng as parking in cities is not easy.

3) Get a list of the hotels the symphony will be using. You could stay at those but might want to stay nearby instead. Don't bother with apartments or anthing else. Just stay at hotels. It will be easier. You can book all direct or use booking.com.

4) For sightseeing, you could buy the guidebooks but you won't have much time. Peruse this website for tips and every city has their own visitors website.

The people who told you to skip Bratislava probably didn't read what you wrote and just see the title and the itinerary.

By the way, how does your daughter feel about you traveling with her?

Folks have said to skip Bratislava. It's only an hour by train or bus from Vienna, so it makes more sense to stay in Vienna than to change hotels. Also, the general opinion is that there's more to see in Vienna or Budapest than in Bratislava. So you might consider skipping time with your daughter in Bratislava - or the concert - for more time in Budapest.

As for accommodations, with so little time until your trip, there will be fewer options. Mostly I use hotels.com and booking.com to find hotels with availability on my dates. They have ratings from previous guests (and some short reviews too). As a rule, I only look at places that have a rating of 8 or more (out of 10), but beggars can't be choosers. accorhotels.com has hotels at all price/star levels, from basic Ibis to luxury. Join for free to get the "membership" discount. They don't bombard you with emails. Ibis is their lowest level and they are reliably clean and modern, with comfy beds, and most have rooms for 3. Be aware that the rooms are quite small, so even with 2 people it can be tight walking to/from the bathroom between the furniture.

OK, I got it. After repeated reading I found out that you did not choose your destinations, symphony did. I think that for the first trip to Europe most of us would choose differently. Munich, Vienna, Budapest are pretty big cities but we usually recommend hotel where we stayed but you can choose according to your taste, not ours. First, read R.S. books about these cities. They are excellent as all R.S. guide books that the cream was already chosen for you. You don't have to go through a lot of information and then choose yourself like let's say with Lonely Planet. Then look at the left side of this page and read at least Explore Europe and Travel Tips. Actually everything there is treasure for a traveler. If everybody read it all before asking questions I suspect that we volunteer contributors on this forum would lose our interesting job. Then look at the top of this page and you will see Search. Type Munich and you will se everything what was written about Munich on this forum. Then type Salzburg. The same will happen. And then next of your destinations, etc. So to answer at least one of your questions: Of course in Europe the best mode of transportation between cities which are not too far apart is train. Car is a big hassle for many reasons and usually it cost more than train. Bus is usually cheaper but usually slower and less comfortable. If train would take more than 6 to 7 hours then I start thinking about plane.

All,
Again thanks for all of the suggestions and replies. Just to answer some of the questions, my wife and I decided late to make the trip, so we missed out on the tour package that was available for families. I do know where the group is staying in each city, and I am considering some of those hotels, but I’m not crazy about all of them.

Also, my daughter is very happy that we are now coming, but trust me, we intend to give her plenty of space. In fact, their plan has them going to Linz instead of Salzburg, but we opted for Salzburg due to its beautiful landscape and additional offerings. Our plan is to catch my daughter’s performances in Vienna, Bratislava, and Budapest. Based on what I’m reading, I might cut a day out of Bratislava and add on to Budapest.

As for lodging, I’m going to look for hotels that are in close proximity to the train, the concert locations, and the main attractions within each city.

The advice here has been incredible and I cannot thank you all enough!!

I'm glad it is all coming together.

Do you want to help build the audience by saying the group she's with?

Find out if you can get on the tour package late. If there was one, I bet they will have cancellations, etc. Stay in the same hotels, regardless. You will want to hang out with the other parents.

Your trip has a lot of moving parts (figuratively and literally) so the Rick Steves book I'd go with is 'Europe Through the Back Door' in the name of knowing how to best move from place to place. He's also get a three episode 'Travel Skills' part of his tv series that you'll probably find helpful, and the TV show is included on many steaming platforms like PBS, and several of the Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime cluster.

For the day and a half you have at each stop, Tripadvisor or the web site for the local tourism development council will give you some ideas on things you'd enjoy.

If your daughter is not playing in Salzburg, I wouldn’t add that to the trip. I think you will enjoy your trip more if you go to as few places as possible, esp with the tight time restrictions you have to attend your daughter’s concerts. You will find that traveling from city to city eats up a lot of time (checking out of hotel, getting to station, a cushion of time in case something goes wrong in getting there, the train trip itself, getting to the new hotel). You almost always lose half a day.

If you skip Salzburg, you could spend two nights in Munich, a partial jet-lagged arrival day (good for walking around, but you’ll prob want an early dinner and get to bed), then spend a full day in Munich. You could add the other day to Vienna. Three nights in Vienna is not too much.

Good luck in planning. Don’t worry about missing something. You will see 10 days worth of stuff, even if you hit fewer destinations. I bet you’ll find a way to come back for a second trip!