Hello,
We have an opportunity to stay in Prague for Christmas. We have two teenage girls and want to make this trip interesting and fun for all. I thought we could base ourselves in Prague and do a trip to Berlin making stops along the way (by train), we'd also like to go to Amsterdam. does anyone of any suggestions for this itinerary. Not sure if it makes much sense to go to Amsterdam, but our kids would love to go there. I welcome any suggestions and we're very open. We have about 2 weeks.
Thank you

If by "base yourselves in Prague" you mean to stay there and visit Berlin and Amsterdam as day trips - no that is not doable. They are way too far.

They are however, great places to visit, especially with young people and in 2 weeks you should be able to visit all three for at least 4 days each which gives you a nice taste.

Be sure to get open jaw tickets - into Prague and out of Amsterdam to avoid wasting a day returning to Prague. These are called multi-destination tickets on search engines.

Prague to Berlin will take about 5 hours. From Prague to Amsterdam is about 6 hours by train - so probably still a better choice than flying.

Just be aware that you are there in the midst of winter. Prague is likely to be colder and more snowy while the other cities are often more damps and perhaps not quite so cold.

For 2 weeks very possible to do Prague - Dresden - Berlin - Amsterdam (great at New Year's Eve - bombastic!)- trains are great between all - for lots of stuff on European trains check www.seat61.com; www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

For schedules check www.bahn.de/en - German Railways schedule site for all your trains and discounted tickets available on routes involving Germany.

Thank you both so much. Yes, we're not planning on day trips from prague, i guess i just meant we can stay there for free (house swap)and then do hotels in the other two cities. If there are must sees along the way please let me know, you've both been very helpful. We're also open to other cities if you recommend one more than another or in addition to. Thanks again!!!

I'd stop in Dresden on the way to Berlin, that's my only suggestion. If you have time, you could go to Leipzig, also, I loved Leipzig. You could do Leipzig as a day trip from either Berlin or Dresden, it's only about an hour by train from Berlin.

If you want to end up in Amsterdam, that would work after Berlin, you can't go there from Prague as a day trip, nor would it make sense to go there and return to Prague. IN fact, the train goes through Berlin to Amsterdam from Prague. I don't think there's any place that much of interest between Berlin and Amsterdam on that train route. At least I don't know of any. The main city of note is Hanover on the route, you could see if it interests you in any way. Otherwise, you could go from Berlin to Hamburg if you wanted, spend a day there and then take the train from there to Amsterdam (Hamburg is not on the regular route, but is only 2 hrs or less from Berlin). But Hamburg to Amsterdam is not a direct train like Berlin to Amsterdam is. Not sure how appealing a port city is at that time of year.

Plenty to do and spend several days doing it in Berlin including the Christmas markets if they are still open as well as that toboggan run set up on the Potsdamer Platz.

Agree that taking the train will probably end up being easiest and fastest between these three cities.

. IN fact, the train goes through Berlin to Amsterdam from Prague.>

In fact the most direct way it does not - not nearly but from Amsterdam to Frankfurt-Dresden-Prague is the most direct route and you have little time to dwell on any but those three cities - great cities amongst my favorite in Europe - Prague, Berlin and Amsterdam and Dresden is neat too.

In any case it will take just over 11 hours
Amsterdam to Prague (over 12 hours via Berlin) - the quickest route not via Frankfurt as I said above but via Amsterdam-Hannover-Nurnberg-Bus to Prague.