Eastern Europe...Are we being too ambitious?

We did a similar trip a few summers ago for 14 nights, but stayed in Bratislava not Salzburg.

Prague 4 nights. CK shuttle to Cesky with a stop in kutna hora/silver mine tour
Cesky. 2. CK shuttle to Vienna
Vienna. 3. Hydrofoil to Bratislava (LOD.sk) Slovakian company was 1/4 price of Viennese
Bratislava. 1. Student agency bus to Budapest (now called Regiojet)
Budapest. 4

We (2 couples) didn't feel rushed at all. I'm sure Salzburg would substitute nicely, but I don't know if you need more than one night.

You are perhaps pushing yourself with your itinerary and would suggest traveling a little slower.
I consider Prague and Budapest to be somewhat alike cities. I would choose Budapest over Prague because it has a better atmosphere and is much cheaper to stay in.
If I was somewhat of a Bohemian, I would prefer Munich, Salzburg, Vienna and Budapest--all lively cities.. We used Bratislava as a resting place after 4 very busy days in Budapest.
We were back in Budapest last April, as we find it a comfortable city to visit.

That pace would be a bit fast for me, but I like both art museums and WW II / Cold War sites a lot. If your interests are more general, you may just about have enough time.

However, please clarify your travel dates. Is May 11 the day you land in Europe? Is May 25 the day you fly home? That gives you 13 full days in Europe plus the arrival day, which is a partial one and jetlagged to boot.

My husband and I did a similar trip over 2 weeks only replacing Cesky Krumlov with Munich for Oktoberfest. We also added a stop in Melk to see the abbey and then took a short but scenic river cruise from Melk to Krems where we caught a train to Vienna. We carried our luggage with us so this was an "in transit" way to fit in a few more places. It was a fairly fast paced trip but it did not feel overly rushed to us. Depends on your travel personality. We had 3 nights in the bigger cities and 2 nights in Salzburg. We also had the advantage of a personal tour guide in Budapest as my sister was living there at the time.

We so appreciate the suggestions thus far.
Some clarity...we are leaving Friday, May 11th (the flights out of Boston are late afternoon)...arriving on May 12th and leaving Budapest on May 25th. So we are actually staying only 13 nights.

So that's just 12 fully usable days. That makes me go "eek", but again, I'm a very big fan of museums, and 2-1/2 days (at best) in places like Vienna and Budapest would be frustrating to me.

I suggest taking a look at the rail schedules on the Deutsche Bahn website to see what your days will look like, including what time you'll need to leave each hotel to get to the train station on time, and what time you'll finally be settled into your new hotel. Do you feel as if that leaves you enough time to enjoy the new city/town?

If that analysis leaves you unhappy, I'd punt on Salzburg this time around. Salzburg is relatively easy to visit in conjunction with a trip to Germany. You could probably add it to a future trip more easily than the other cities. Based on the way virtually everyone gushes about Budapest (I'm heading there myself this year), I think you would be happy to have more time there than your current itinerary allows.

It would be kind of rushed for me but doable. Give Cesky Krumlov just one night, and consider skipping Salzburg this time if you want to maximize in the three great cities. You could easily spend 3-4 full days in each of them. If you have an extra day for one of them, my pick would be Budapest.

Thank you for the feedback...we have changed our plans considerably. Here is our new itinerary:
Prague - 4 days...day trip to Kutna Hura
Vienna -5 days.. day trip to Melk
Budapest-5 days....any ideas for a day trip ?

We went to Hutna Kora last summer and do the silver mine tour! It's very interesting. Cesky Krumlov could also be a day trip if you'd like. The RegioJet bus is very nice and is the easiest way to reach it rather than train.

We've stayed at a great hostel - good for all ages in Prague. They have a superb breakfast for 6-8 euros and have free daily walking tours at 9 each day. It's called Miss Sophie's hostel but also has Sophie's Hotel across the street. Easy access to metro stop. There's also a great Saturday Farmer's Market near the boats on the west end of the river and west of St. Charles bridge. Terrific beer gardens all around - one of our favorites was up the hill near the Praha 2-Vinohrady area. There is a large one and a smaller one but the view of Prague at sunset incredible. It's a hilly hike to get there but inexpensive food & beer and amazing view. Take your blanket and watch the sunset. One of the beer gardens is called Riegrovy Sady Beer Garden. In Prague, one of the most powerful places I visited was the Jewish cemetery, synagogue and Ghetto area. It closes early and they only took Czech money for tickets. We took at day trip with a private tour guide (we had a group of 10) to Terezin work camp about an hour outside of Prague. They have a really good museum and our tour was only about $45-50 each and they picked us up in Prague, drove us to and from and provided a whole days worth of tour through the area. We went through Terezin Private Tours and were very pleased (http://www.terezin-private-tours.com/).

It's been more than 30 years since I went to Budapest. Hoping to go back as it's changed so much.

Have fun!

Just to quibble, that is MittelEuropa, not Eastern Europe (which is more Belorus, Romania, Poland).

I would do the following:

Prague - 4 nights
CK - 1 night
Vienna - 4 nights (side trip to Salzburg, possibly omit it)
Boat trip to Bratislava and continue to Budapest - 4 nights

The common comment is "travel days are wasted days". Any of us who travel frequently know how little you accomplish on those days. 13 nights is not long, really. Fewer stops are better.

In Budapest, you can do a day trip to Eger, which is a small city in wine country where there was a notable siege on the last time the Ottomans invaded Europe. The footprint of the fort remains, but the actual fort was reduced to nothing in the siege.