Planning 4 week Euro Trip

It is a crazy-looking itinerary, but it also looks like an amazing trip, and I'm sure you and your girlfriend would be fun to hang out with if I were going to be there at the same time...

You have 7 major stops averaging about 4 nights each, which I think is very reasonable, even if you do have some long travel days. My only suggestion is instead of spending the first night in Brussels, take the train directly to Paris when you arrive. If you want the extra day in Brussels, you can add it when you're back there at the end (just push the itinerary forward one day, and fly back to Brussels on 4 June). Wake up in Paris on your first morning in Europe!

I wouldn't begin to advise on on such things as trading Munich for Vienna or Prague for Budapest or subtract a day here and add a day there. Everywhere you have on your itinerary is a destination people go to Europe to see. So don't overthink it! Just have a great trip!

If you're buying the Thalys tickets separately, then you're correct that remaining trains don't need any reservations, although if you choose a DB bus between Munich and Prague, then that does need a seat reservation for $5 (with a rail pass).

So that leaves you with three days of train travel between the main cities named plus a couple of possible side trips. Routes between Munich and Prague don't pass through Austria without a fair amount of extra hassle. If you were thinking of Salzburg, then a same-day roundtrip from Munich may be easier and does not require Austria on the pass (because it's the border town) or has other cheap tickets available.

The pass price compares well against full-fare tickets, if you don't want to lock in advance-purchase discounts for specific times. That is, full fares for Amsterdam-Cologne-Munich, Munich-Prague, and Prague-Berlin can add up to about $375 per person in 2nd class. A Select Saverpass for 5 days of travel in Benelux, Germany, and Czech currently costs $324 per person and covers 1st class. Reconfirm prices and number of days again in a week or so. That pass gives you 2 extra days to play with, for side trips not currently reflected in the ticket estimate.

Normally I'd also vote for moving on from Brussels on arrival day since you will be ending the trip there. The monkey wrench is that pesky Thalys ticket, which pins you down to a specific departure time. Hard to know what to do about that when you are arriving on a trans-Atlantic flight.

For the end of the trip, I'd check on direct train service from other cities to the Brussels airport, with a view to staying elsewhere. I suspect that Brussels has the highest hotel costs in Belgium (though come to think of it, I guess that might not apply to hostels?). Most folks think Brussels can be a day trip from Ghent, Antwerp, etc. Bruges, though very touristy, has always sounded like a very pretty small city to me, so that might be an option for one small-town experience as a day trip from Ghent or Antwerp if the rail trip isn't too long.

I think moving fairly rapidly between such large cities (which often means extra time to get to and from train stations) will be a bit tiring, but on Day 19 you get to start your long stay in Barcelona. You can crash then (and I bet you will).

Your time allocation looks reasonable to me.

I'm not sure the rail pass is going to save you money; perhaps it depends on whether you are ready to lock down your train trips now with non-refundable/non-changeable tickets in order to snag the super-low promo fares. If you want to retain itinerary flexibility, the rail passes may be a good decision. Only researching the cost of each travel leg for both current fares and May fares will answer that question. You can get a lot of the rail fares from the Deutsche Bahn website. For example, for your travel date of May 19, I see 19-euro fares from Amsterdam-Cologne and 29-euros fares for Cologne-Munich. Both non-refundable, etc. You could make the entire trip without stopping for just 39 euros. Fares for some of your planned travel legs may not yet be available.

I'm not sure Amsterdam-Munich-Prague-Berlin-Barcelona is the most cost-effective routing from the transportation standpoint. Just looking at a map, it appears that Amsterdam-Berlin-Prague-Munich-Barcelona would have shorter mileage and likely be cheaper. However, the cost of the flight to Barcelona is a key factor here (and for sure you want to fly to Barcelona). If you haven't already done so, I suggest using skyscanner. com to check out the cost of flights on May 29 (which you probably need to book soon, else you may pay triple current prices or more for the flight). I see deals under $50 from both Berlin and Munich, with Berlin being a bit cheaper, but do check on extra fees for luggage, etc., and consider the cost of getting to and from the airports being used.

"I know I am focusing on big cities. Perhaps on one of the train rides we can stop somewhere besides Cologne and Vienna, any suggestions?"

You have 4 nights in Munich. Your trip from A'dam to Munich will take about 8 hours without stopping over in Cologne so I assume you're only stopping for a couple hours at most. I'd do the stop in Cologne IF you have specific goals there - but if you wish to see some attractive old-world towns, then take a train from Cologne into the Middle Rhine Valley south of Koblenz for a one-night stopover... see an old-world wine town or two, some great scenery, and a genuine medieval Castle. Braubach is 10 minutes south of Koblenz.

Braubach's old town:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4143/4751924826_36d7071291_b.jpg
http://www.romantischer-rhein.de/uploads/pics/Altstadt_02.jpg
There are several lodging options including this one.

If you catch the 8:02 train out of A'dam you can stop over in Cologne for a couple of hours and be in Braubach by about 2 pm.
Marksburg Castle is a genuine medieval castle with 1-hour tours. Just walk up from town.

"I'm more interested in eating and drinking what the locals are."
The Zum Goldenen Schlüssel in Braubach serves traditional German food.

You can leave Braubach for Munich the following morning. 3 nights may be enough in Munich, with or without a side trip, if it's mostly beer and food you're after.

"Seems there's no night train or I'd use that." Yes, there is a night route you can use. What you have listed, you could use the night train option going from Amsterdam to Munich. There used to be the CNL night train connecting these two cities, but it ended in Dec 2015.

Still, there is night service. Going from Amsterdam to Munich, you take the departure that arrives in Munich at 0602. You transfer twice, still early, to get to Duisburg. In Duisburg take the night ICE train to Munich arriving at 0602...very doable. Last year end of May, I took that night route, reserved a seat, boarded the ICE in Düsseldorf, which was nearly empty, but a ton of people got on at Frankfurt Airport at midnight, then every seat in the coach was taken...all going to the terminus, Munich Hbf.

Fred, are there couchettes or sleepers on that train? I don't think most people are willing to sit up all night long.

Thanks for all of the advice, everyone! I also just realized Thalys can be booked FOUR, not three months in advance, and were already on sale. Thankfully it was still about $30 to Paris from Brussels and $35 from Paris to Amsterdam, which are still the cheapest available prices I know. We decided it was a better idea to leave Brussels the same day we got there, so we are leaving on the second-to-last train from Brussels to Paris.

Two comments, one about the start of your trip and one about the end.
Second one first: Fly home from Barcelona, using a multi-destination search function. It will save time and not cost more, maybe less.

You sound like my kind of beer taster. Which means that, being seven or eight time zones out of synch, if you have stay conscious after arrival long enough to have a good time in Brussels, you won't be fit to move anywhere the next day. No, seriously.
Lambic is a very specialized taste and will require some research. Coming from the spiritual home of the craft beer explosion (well, hello Oregon too) you may find that the common beers in Belgium, although interesting, are also somewhat timid and, dare I say, old-fashioned. It is, after all, the home of InBev and you know what that means. Searching out the forward-looking brewing will require more attention than a jet-lagged traveller may be able to muster. I have the hangovers to back me up. Belgium is still the Mecca (no offence) of beer. With an extra day you can hazard the beer museum in the famously rococo Brussels Grand Place where, when I visited decades ago, the display was modest but the curator's job was to pour free beer into me. Maybe things have changed but it must still be a better prospect than the famous garden ornament pissing. http://www.brusselsmuseums.be/en/museum/68-museum-of-the-belgian-brewers
Paris is no haven for beer; you have to go north to Alsace for good beer drinking, thanks unfortunately to all the wars with Germany. However it is a town than appreciates luxury goods and understands craft beer earns a luxury price. The Mister Frog chain attempts to trade on the English pub (a chain, I underscore.) http://www.frogpubs.com/ I won't even give the info on two Canadian pubs which have sports tv and vastly overpriced Mousehead.
More adventurous and independent, Le Ballon Vert in the bottom of the 11th imports Irish craft beers, mostly from Galway, the best microbrew region in Ireland. Ask about the green balloon name. 33 rue de Montreuil.
In Amsterdam an awareness of craft beer is being recovered after decades when all the adventurous beer came from Belgium but don't say that out loud. I had a good time at a chain of four pubs in the centre, led by this one, Arendsnest, Herengracht 90. www.arendsnest,nl. Very serious and delicious.

I tried flying out of Barcelona but couldn't find any cheap flights back, maybe because it was the end of Primavera Sound music festival. I found some for $800 and that was it. The tickets ended up being $75 from Barcelona to Brussels, and I think we will stay in Antwerp, Ghent, or Bruges instead of Brussels (we have friends in Antwerp). Right now the only trip I am not sure exactly how we will do it is Munich to Prague, it seems like I will not need to make a reservation if I have Eurail but every site I go to has a different route suggestion.

@ acraven...As far as I know, if the night route is an ICE or IC, there are no sleeper or couchette, which I never take as an option anyway. If the night route is done by an EN, then sleepers and couchettes are part of the train as well as the general seating area. There are a lot of passengers doing exactly that on a night route sitting up all night long based on what I saw and experienced on last year's trip. On that five week trip I took two night routes, Düsseldorf to Linz via Munich, and Munich to Berlin via Hannover, one with the ICE , the other IC, no sleeper/couchette was used on either. Both coaches were crowded, didn't hear any American accents, luckily I reserved a seat in the general seating, even though the DB guy at the counter said that was not mandatory.

Would u consider shaking it up a bit?
I think this would give u less transit times overall.

11 May - Arrive Brussels (3N)
14 May - Thalys to Amsterdam (3N)
17 May - Train to Berlin (4N)
21 May - Train to Prague (3N)
24 May - Train to Munich (4N)
28 May - Fly to Barcelona (7N)
4 June - Fly to Paris (4N)
8 June - Thalys to Brussels for 2pm departure flight

You asked about a day trip to see the Zugspitze from Munich. You can do it in one day, but you would miss a lot of great things to see in the Garmisch area. Also, consider a tour of The Romantic Road in Germany that includes Rothenberg on the Tauber.

Also, your trip is way to busy for me, flying down to Barcelona seems a bit much. I have been to 70 countries and Barcelona twice. I like Barcelona, but it is not even my favorite city in Spain. Madrid (with Toledo and Segovia nearby) and Seville are wonderful.

I suggest eliminating Barcelona for this trip and save it for a trip of Spain and Portugal later. Who wants to spend time in airports on such a trip. Spend more time visiting Salzburg, Vienna and/or Prague.

Considering that the music festival is in Barcelona, and it's the main reason for the trip, I don't think eliminating Barcelona is an option.

Land in Brussels.

I'd start north to Amsterdam and see Paris before returning to Brussels, the two are in opposite directions from Brussels. So Brussels, Amsterdam, Munich (maybe a stop in Koln and another along the Rhein).

Munich to Prague (best stops are Salzburg and Vienna, but Vienna needs more time). Since you are flying out of Berlin, Prague to Berlin with a stop along the way in Dresden, makes sense.

Fly to Barcelona. I'd put in Paris here, before Brussels, afterward Brussels is an easy train ride from Paris.

Germany has great weekend/regional train day passes that allow you to stop when you want, then hop back on when you're ready. I'd take advantage of them as you swing from Amsterdam toward Munich (Salzburg is the last stop on a German day pass, so you wouldn't need an extra ticket to stop there).

I'd also avoid rail-passes or at least price them carefully. I haven't bought a rail-pass in two decades because they stopped being a good deal. Point to point is cheaper, especially if you can take advantage of the German day-passes.