It is a bit too much. You have 12 days minus 2 travel days; 3 days in Amsterdam. That leaves 7 days for Vienna, Salzburg, and either Prague or Budapest. Plus you have travel time back to Vienna for your flight. I think you would short change Prague/Budapest by squeezing them into this itinerary.

From Vienna you could take a day trip to Melk Abbey or to Bratislava.

Several people on this board have recommended St. Gilgen, a country town accessible by public transportation from Salzburg. It looks delightful and has hiking trails. Austria is so beautiful that I'm sure you'll find lovely towns to fill your time.

Since you're flying home from Vienna I would travel directly from Amsterdam to Salzburg and be in Vienna at the end of your trip for your flight home. Even if you have to fly to Vienna get on a train right away to Salzburg and then work your way back to Vienna.

Hi; Agree with Adrieanne; Amsterdam to Salzburg to Vienna.

However, what you need to do is find a sleeper train from Amsterdam to Salzburg to maximize your daylight hours. It's probably a ten hour night time trip and you could be sleeping.

Then a day train to Vienna is probably 2 1/2 hours.

How many days would you spend in Salzburg?

may i suggest you fly from ams to munich, then visit salzburg and finally end up in vienna.. that would give u 4 places in a tight timeframe..

< How many days would you spend in Salzburg >

Depends on what you'll be doing. If the ice caves, salt mine, sound of music tour then you'll need at least 2 days there.

A few days in St. Wolfgang or Hallstatt outside of Salzburg would be very nice. Others prefer St. Gilgen but I like St. Wolfgang more.

I changed my flight so that I would have 5 more days. I'm now arriving in Amsterdam the morning of April 18th. See if this makes more sense:

Amsterdam April 18th-22nd
Fly to Prague on April 22nd and stay over night
Cesky Krumlov on April 23rd and stay over night
Salzburg April 24th-27th
Vienna (Bratislava, Krems/Melk boat ride and bike) April 28th-May 2. Departing the 3rd.

Seems like a lot of time in Vienna. Do you think I could fit in Budapest?

Why only 1 day (or less) in Prague? I certainly wouldn't leave Prague for Cesky Krumlov. Spend more time in Prague (or don't bother going there) and leave out Budapest.

Great. Thanks for the help.

I would probably take a day away from Vienna or Salzburg, add it to Prague and keep Cesky Krumlov.

I haven't finished my trip report from our very recent trip to Austria, Czech Republic and Hungary. Probably will get lots of negative feedback from other Fodorites, but I am sorry we visited Cesky Krumlov, didn't love it, and wished we could have used that day to continue sightseeing in Vienna. Also will probably take heat for this one - I would choose Budapest over Prague, we liked it better.

You can ask for advice, and people will give it freely, but you need to know your own criteria. What do YOU like to do? What sights are you most interested in? Good Luck!

LBloom - I'll support you on CK. I thought it was a quirky town and I'm glad I went after all the hype but I would not qualify it as a "must see" location. I stopped there as I toured southern Czech Rep.

There are quite a few people on this board who would choose Budapest over Prague.

My favorite Central European city, much overlooked and undervisited by fodorites, is Krakow. I almost hate to talk it up. I've been twice in the last couple of years and would love to go again for even longer than the last time (5-6 days).

Budapest is great - have regrets for what we missed. Prague is great - have some regrets for what we missed (but missed less). Would take either over Krakow in heartbeat. Krakow is too far from Vienna to include for the OP.

Budapest may be more convenient than Prague - shorter train trip, can also take Danube hydrofoil from or to Vienna (can't do that with Prague - different river) so may have more options for Budapest.

Thanks LBloom and Adrienne. I'm a seasoned traveller and love getting as much info as I can, but of course I will definitely take it with a grain of salt. My trip isn't until April so I'm just starting to research.

I'm most interested in natural beauty, hiking, exploring towns and cities by walking, art museums, and architecture. I'm not interested in opera/music and just seeing any museum. I love a fast paced trip and don't like to hang out at cafes and see every museum. I would rather see more places than focus tons of days in a city. I'm interested in beautiful little towns as well as the big cities. Budapest is high on my list too so it looks like I need to research Prague and Budapest more. Thank you for your help.

For Prague. www.inyourpocket.com/czech_republic/Prague

If you want picturesque towns, I would definitely stop in Halstatt and St. Wolfgang in the Salzkummergut area of Austria. My favorite is Halstatt.