Eastern (Central) Europe itinerary

There are many great destinations in Germany beyond Munich, but what I immediately noticed is that you list Lake Bled but not Ljubljana. Lake Bled and Halstatt are somewhat similar, and I think you're going to be spending quite a bit of time to get to two small, albeit beautiful, lakes. Since the diversion to Halstatt is quite time-consuming (see below), I'd seriously consider dropping it and adding Ljubljana, which is a charming city. You could also drop Slovenia from this trip and visit it next time around along with Croatia or northern Italy.

I'm going to be covering much of the same territory next year but haven't yet gotten deep into transportation schedules, so I had to look up some of your rail trips to see how long your travel legs will be. Have you done that yet? I think you need to lay out your night-by-night schedule with the rail (or air) transfers built in. That will give you a better idea of how much time you'll really have at each destination. I find the Deutsche Bahn website the easiest to use when I'm just looking for schedules rather than fares.

Prague-Krakow: about 8 hours
Krakow-Lublin: 5-1/2 hours
Lublin-Budapest: 14 hours (this looks like two full travel days to me; or fly, probably through Warsaw)
Budapest-Lake Bled: 10 hours (or 8 hours to Ljubljana; you avoid connection time)
Ljubljana-Halstatt: 6-1/2 hours (over 7 hours from Lake Bled)
Halstatt-Munich: 4 hours
Note: You can go straight from Ljubljana to Munich in just over 5 hours.

Or you can go straight from Budapest to Munich (skipping Slovenia) in about 7 hours.

Your schedule didn't look too tight when I just read the list of cities and guessed how many nights you might want to spend in each one, but now that I've looked at those train times, I'm not sure. Much depends on whether you're the sort of traveler who just wants to hit the top X sights in each city or the type with additional interests to satisfy who also likes wandering around and absorbing the local atmosphere. In other words, were you thinking of 3 nights in Budapest or 5 or 6? What about Vienna?

Also, does the 28-day count begin on the day you land in Munich? Does it count the day you fly back home?

I would drop Cesky Krumlov and Halstatt. The rest is very doable and you also have night train options, say Munich to Budapest, or Budapest to Prague.

This is great information. We really like to immerse ourselves in our travels and experience each place as much as we can.
We try to see just the important sights and then "be locals". With that in mind, we have decided to drop Hallstatt and Lublin (Majdanek) and add Ljubljana. I have started looking into the transportation and will do some night trains. There is a shuttle from Vienna to CK and then on to Prague. A night stay in CK and time to meander around town will break up the long journey. We can also stay there longer if we really like it.
Thanks for your replies!

I agree with acraven - drop Slovenia, stick with Czech R, Slovakia (which you omit), Austria, and Hungary. You mention also Poland. That's a lot of traveling. If you spend 4-5 nights in Vienna, 4-5 in Prague, and 4-5 in Budapest, that's 1/2 the trip. I would spend also 3 nights in Salzburg, 3 in Cesky Krumlov. Halstatt is a day trip from Salzburg, although many stay overnight there - it is a small town, perhaps 500-600 people.

You don't mention Linz, A. There is a camp there - Mauthausen. If you skip Majdenek, you could replace it with Mauthausen.

I'm a great fan of Ljubljana. We've been there 3 times since 2011. It just depends on whether you want to spend time on the train or time in the coffee shops, bars, or whatever. I'd follow acraven's thoughts, draw up a point-to-point plan for your trip, figure out transit times, and see what things look like.

I'm not sure that Majdanek is the most intact concentration camp; at least, that's not what I remember from my visit 20 years ago. I considered Auschwitz and Mauthausen to be more complete experiences, partly due to museum exhibits and explanations, if not sheer number of buildings.

Thanks, Laura. Good to know. I feel better about not seeing Majdanek. I will definitely get to Auschwitz.