Help Needed Planning Two Weeks in Europe for College Graduate!!

My first trip to Europe was as a college student Summer of 1970. And it was a bohemian tour of Munich, Innsbruck, Vienna and Venice. So I know what you're looking for.

Our favorite cities for fun are easily reached by train: Budapest, Vienna, Prague, Berlin and fly from Berlin-Amsterdam.
We were last in these cities 22 months ago, and found the Grunge Bars of Budapest to be hard to beat. It's also cheaper than the other cities to spend time in. Only thing in Prague we found cheap was $1.05 beers. Berlin is still one of the less expensive large European cities to visit.

First thing we do when we hit a new town is take a "Free Walking Tour" where the guides work for tips. Then we'll take their Nightlife Tour which introduces you to all the best bars--many of which are off the beaten path. The people taking the Nightlife Tours are from all over the world, and they're usually a very lively bunch.

You should be able to have the trip of a lifetime for $2,000 for 14 nights staying in hostels and picnicing.

Where are you coming from? If your $2000 budget includes airfare, better start digging up cheap fares now.
Skip Switzerland as it is super expensive. Put Berlin in the mix, and possibly Budapest. Maybe see what your open jaw options are so you do not have to waste time and money backtracking.
Edit- Oops, saw budget does not include air. whew. Still anything you can save there can go into the beer fund. With just 2 weeks, don't try to do too much. If you have 14 days, 2 days are killed sitting in airplanes, so that only leaves 12 days on the ground. 4 cities with 3 nights each, it will take one night to find where the action is.

Amsterdam, Berlin and Paris or Barcelona.

Two weeks is not long enough, try to squeeze mor etime in, and more money.

My 19 yr old has worked for 3 yrs, attended first yr college, and is niw doing 11 weeks in europe this spring...

Push yourself, this will be a trip of a lifetime...oh, you may take others but this one will be special.

Forget London, Paris and Switzerland - too expensive.
For 2 lads looking at "consuming plenty of alcohol"...
(Always practise safe and responsible consumption of alcohol)

June 1 - Fly in to Prague (3 nights)
June 4 - By train from Prague to Berlin (4 nights)
June 8 - By train from Berlin to Amsterdam (3 nights)
June 11 - Fly with Vueling from Amsterdam to Barcelona (4 nights)
Vueling Airlines VY8323 / 18:35 Depart AMS Amsterdam / 20:50 Arrive BCN Barcelona
June 15 - Fly home from Barcelona

Hostels Prague
http://post-hostel-prague.pragueshotel.net/
http://www.hosteloneprague.com/

Hostels Berlin
http://minimal-hostel.webnode.com/
http://www.grandhostel-berlin.de/en/
http://www.jetpakberlin.com/ALTERNATIVE.htm

Thank you so much everyone!! Some very great and consistent advice, you gave me exactly what I was looking for.

DJPs suggestions are the most sensible. Split in Croatia would be an alternative to Spain.

Congrats on your graduation btw.
Something to look forward to in the Spring. You'll have a great time.

"Interests: meeting new people, experiencing new culture, consuming plenty of alcohol, dancing, hiking, being outdoors, sightseeing, electronic music, spontaneous adventure."

None of your interest require being in a big city, and, I think, several interests are totally incongruous with big cities. Yet, your itinerary has three major cities and one very expensive resort area.

Big cities will inflate your expenses significantly.

Other than that, I think your plan is feasible. I recently completed a three week tour of Germany with my opposite gender, close friend, and we spent about 2700€ for both of us, for three weeks on the ground (not including airfare to get there). At today's exchange rate, that's close to $1000 per week.

For the most part, we confined our travel to a relatively small geographic are - Baden-Würrtemberg and Bavaria. So we didn't spend a lot of money jumping from one location to another. For the most part, we made use of regional rail day passes.

Although we didn't splurge, we didn't really skimp, either. We never stayed in an international type hotel; all of our nights were in simple family run establishment, most of which, I might add, aren't on any booking websites. We did stay in an apartment in the Oberallgäu, which cost us only 300€ for the week, although we had to provide out own breakfast. For two-thirds of the time, breakfast was included with our overnight accommodations. We had at least one sit-down meal per day.

We only spent 4 of the 21 nights in a big city (Munich); the rest of our time was in small towns, which are more economical. Outside of Munich, only 2 places (4 nights) had more than 8000 people.