Budapest to Lake Como.Cinque Terre and countries between

Sounds like northern Italy is your interest. So go there. Since you are disembarking in Budapest and since I have a bias towards Budapest I would suggest you spend some time there before moving on. So I did a quick check on Orbitz and you can fly from Budapest to either Milan or Venice on the 7th for about USD180 one way. For that price I wouldn't sit on a train for a day. That leaves you 3 full days in Budapest and the 8, 9, 10, 11, to sight see in northern Italy which seems reasonable give or take a day our of Budapest. I've been to Venice, Verona, Milan, Lake Como but not really my specialty so leave that to someone else to help.

If you didn't already have your Milan departure ticket I would ask why you traveled all the way to Central Europe just to bug out the first chance you get. Me, I would spend the time sightseeing in Central Europe and then if I had to use the Milan flight maybe fly to Milan for a day or two of sightseeing and shopping (for you, not him) before flying home.

Some of what you can see or miss in Budapest
the Summer Festival is amazing. In addition to the program events on the website there is generally smaller food stalls an vendors set up along some of the streets in the ghetto. This part of the culture and history of Budapest is one of the city's best draws. We've done it twice now, its a good time to be in Budapest. http://zsidonyarifesztival.hu/programok/?lang=en http://www.festivalbudapest.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/June-Festivals-Budapest-Judafest-Jewish-Cultural.png http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/11/04/43/2377930/7/628x471.jpg

Budapest International Wine Festival. We went last year and it was a lot of fun. Set up around the Castle in Buda. Not a drunken orgy as a is often the case where the booze is free or cheap. This was very well done and just an enjoyable way to spend a few hours. Very nice. http://www.aborfesztival.hu/index.php http://festivals.topbudapest.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Budapest-Wine-Festival.png
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@mnnky, I agree (your post below). Everyone has their own dreams, asperitions, interests and if they pursue them they will have a good time. I just wondered if they had checked out the region they were ending in before they made the plans. Probably so. This video from Viking Cruises is to advertise their Danube trip but all of the city shots, dining shots, shore shots and half of the aerial shots are in Budapest. Good Budapest marketing:

http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7wvw/viking-river-cruises-see-things-differently-
and https://www.youtube.com/embed/o_TVq1UJw8I?showinfo=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&wmode=opaque&autoplay=0&enablejsapi=1&origin=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vikingrivercruises.com

And one of the better Youtube videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8HSwsRob8I

mnnky,

You've only got eight days to cover the locations you mentioned, so you'll have to decide whether you'd like to spend those mostly in central Europe or in Italy. You seem to want to focus on northern Italy, so I'd suggest travelling there fairly quickly after you disembark from your river cruise. If you want to see all the locations listed, I'm not sure you'll have much time for "countries in between".

One option you could look at is along these lines.....

• As soon as you disembark from your cruise, take an EasyJet flight from Budapest to Basel-Mulhouse. If you decide on this option, I'd advise booking the flight SOON as they only have one departure from Budapest that day. Be sure to read their Terms & Conditions carefully, especially related to luggage rules.
• From the airport travel to Lucerne for a day or two (from Basel station, the trip to Lucerne is ~1H).
• From Lucerne take the train to Monterosso in the Cinque Terre (about 7.5H with at least one change, depending on which train you use). Spend a couple of nights there. I'd suggest pre-booking a C.T. hotel soon if you decide to do that. If you can't find a vacancy in Monterosso, you can try the other towns or perhaps Levanto, as it's not far.
• From Monterosso take the direct departure to Milano Centrale at 06:54, arriving 09:55 and then transfer to the train to Varenna. I'm not sure you'll have time for both Lago di Como and Lago di Garda, so you'll have to pick one.
• Spend a couple of days in Varenna and then travel back to Milan for at least one night prior to your flight home.

There are lots of possibilities and this is only one suggestion.

You will be surprised how fast roughly 10 days can go by and you have a couple options. Since you mentioned a lot of northern Italy you could easily fly from Budapest to either Milan or Pisa and start exploring that area (I recommend using Skyscanner to look up flights. I also recommend at least three nights in the Cinque Terre (one day to explore and one day to relax) and then after that it is easy to use the rail network to get to the Lakes and then back to Milan for your flight. There are a few other places you could visit in the area such as Lucca or Florence.

If you wanted to work your way from Budapest to Milan then you could do that with some long trips on trains and I would try to break up your trip with at least a couple stops in Austria (Vienna, Hallstatt, Salzburg, etc), then push on to the lakes and Cinque Terre but that could easily have you rushing areas. You can look up schedule optiosn for trains with DB You can find more recommendations in Rick's guidebooks or watch some of his videos for free and get a visual on each area. You may want to consider a consultation to discuss options based more on what you enjoy seeing and doing while traveling.

@mnkybizniz

If your plans do take you to Lake Como you might want to look at www.ilsognobellagio.it for accommodations. What a beautiful place. Have a blast.