Amsterdam, Munich, Salzburg, Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Berlin

To do day trips to Budapest or Prague from one of your base cities does not make sense. They are simply too far from any of your base cities for a day trip. They both deserve 3 full days themselves. Somewhat realistic schedule could be Munich, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest. Drop Amsterdam. Visit Salzburg as a day trip from Munich. That would give you about three days for each city.

Not really a realistic plan. If you are trying to utilize your time well--too many destinations too far from each other in too short a time. Do you want to spend all your time on trains traveling between cities or having the time to actually experience what you are visiting? These cities are quite spread out going from the far end of western Europe in Amsterdam to Budapest in eastern Europe and popping up north to Berlin. Traveling btw each of your base cities, plan on it taking the best part of a day. Even if you took flights, getting out to airports, leaving plenty of time to check in and then from arrival airport back to the city will eat up the best part of a day. Look at your last trip, you had almost 2x the time and half the destinations. London-Paris, Venice-Florence, Florence-Rome are short hops via trains. None of your current city pairs are. Can day trip Munich-Salzburg, can't daytrip to Budapest or Prague.

Go to the deutsche bahn site and plug in city pairs to see the travel times and available trains.

Hannah,

I did Munich, Prague, Vienna, Budapest and Krakow this past September and i spent 3 full days in each city and overall was about 3+ weeks. you want to add more and in less time.

Granted, you may not NEED 3 full days in each place, but unless you like to cut your things to do/see short or run to/from everything, you will have to whittle down your list.

When you went on your trip 2 summers ago how much time did you spend in each place? if you cut them short (subjective) than you maybe able to do it again, but as i will point out, as long as you understand what you are doing, then go for it.

I go by from my experience and my geography isnt good without a map, but from what i did this year and what you want to do, you will need to cut something off our out. Something else i will add is that i used trains from all of the places i stated. The longest was an overnight from Budapest to Krakow, the next was from Munich to Prague and it was about 4 ish hours.

i can understand wanting to see the world in a week, but you need to make some decisions as to whats and where is important to you and go from there.

I chose where i went because it was sort of in a neat tidy group accessible by trains. My trip next year wont be.

happy trails.

Rick’s Train Travel Time & cost Map gives you an easy overview of travel time on faster trains (in hours) and non-discounted 2nd-class fares (in dollars). When you're ready for more detail, How to Look Up Train Schedules and Routes Online gives you the DB train schedule link and tips for using it.

I would drop something from your original list, but perhaps pick up a stop that doesn't detour off a straighter route. For example, you can follow a pretty logical route Amsterdam-Berlin-Dresden (half day or 1-night stop)-Prague-Vienna-Budapest.

Or, again, cut one of the end points and add another stop in the middle, such as Ceske Krumlov and the Melk area. See the itinerary of Rick's 12-day Berlin-Prague-Vienna tour for ideas on that timing, but note that public transport to/from Ceske Krumlov takes longer than a private tour bus.

Hannah:

You lose one day coming and going transferring to and from hotels to the airport. And you lose one day of tourism every time you move from city to city.

Your 7 city itinerary is too aggressive for 18 days travel. Every city you've picked, except for Salzburg, is worthy of a full week's time.
You could fly into Amsterdam. From there, a train can take you down the Rhine River Valley and on to Munich. I would suggest stopping at Cologne to see the incredible Duomo (cathedral.) Munich is a city with many tourist sights, and the incredible Alps are just 2 hours south by rental car or train. Salzburg is a popular stop, but can be seen in 2 days. You can get to Vienna via train from Salzburg in about 4 hours. Vienna is the Music City, and has incredible art museums and palaces.
Unfortunately you will not have time to see Budapest, Prague and Berlin. They're cities you should save for your next trip, and would be a good 2 week itinerary to themselves.

Definitely too much moving around for me in that amount of time. If you keep Amsterdam I would drop two of the other cities and either do Ams, Mun, Salz, Prag, Ber, flying into Ams and out of either Berlin or Prague; or do Ams, Mun, Salz, Vien, Bud, flying into Ams and out of Budapest. If you drop Amsterdam and fly into Munich then I would do Mun, Salz, Prague and Berlin; or Mun, Salz, Vien, Budapest. I wouldn't put both Berlin/Prague and Budapest in the same mix - too much travel time between them eating up your sightseeing time. Keep your places in a logical sequence and definitely fly open-jaw to maximize your time.

Dear all,

Thank you so much for all your input! I wish I had more time for this trip. I need to make it in less than three weeks, because weekends are important work days for me and I can't get away no longer than 2 weekends. I will look into the itinerary and choose fewer cities. For now, I am most interested in visiting cities in this order:
1. Vienna
2. Salzburg
3. Munich
4. Berlin
5. Budapest
6. Prague
From reading your posts, it seems I can do Vienna, Salzburg, Munich & one more city. It's really hard to choose! We loved our trip to London and other cities two summers ago, and want to go back to at least London some time. So perhaps we can include Amsterdam in that future trip.
I looked into doing a Rick Steves tour; but we are specifically interested in doing music related events and visiting churches, in addition to visiting popular sites and museums. I am not sure if a group tour would allow enough time for pursuing special interests like that. Does anybody know from your experiences?
Again, thank you so much!!!
Hannah

Hannah, thanks for giving a little add'l information. Based on the cities you want to see most and your stated interest in music and churches, I would fly into Munich to spend time with your friends then transfer to Salzburg, Vienna, and end in Prague, flying home from there. You will find a wealth of musical performances and beautiful churches in those cities. I would leave both Budapest and Berlin for another time.

As you said, it's unlikely that a group tour would give you enough time on your own to pursue your interests as often as you would like. Doing it on you own is the way to go. Unless, of course, someone knows of a music oriented tour company that would give you what you want.