1

If you want to visit big cities only and none of the stunning European landscapes and small places, your itinerary makes perfectly sense. 4 nights each for Salzburg and Bologna is rather too much, unless you choose these towns as bases for day trips to other places.
Point to point tickets will most probably be cheaper than a railpass. Sometimes huge discounts if you buy tickets in advance
https://www.bahn.de/i/view/DEU/en/index.shtml
http://www.oebb.at/en/index.jsp
http://www.fsitaliane.it/homepage_en.html

2

Thank you for your quick reply :)

As for seeing ''none of the stunning European landscapes and small places'' I would be more than happy to spend a couple of days in a smaller place and maybe cut a big city but i must admit that my knowledge is kind of limited. If you have any suggestions i would sureley take them into consideration. The only fixed places in my intinerary is Berlin at the start and Rome at the end.

3

Sounds pretty good but I agree, too many cities.

4

Berlin - 5 days (3 full days)
Prague - 5 days (3 full days)
Vienna - 5 days (3 full days with a day trip to Bratislava)
Salzburg - 4 days (2 full days)
Munich - 5 days (3 full days)

Looks good to me, assuming I understand your 'full day' concept properly...for example, I'm reading that as you mean to arrive in Salzburg on day 1, have 2 full days and then leave on day 4...from Prague, Salzburg and Munich there are plenty of possible day-trips, if you have an itch to get out of the city...

5

Yes i consider a full day to be a day without transportation check-in etc

I still have a lot a research to do but i could indeed try to make a couple days trips out of major cities

thanks!

6

Not bad...based on my interests at least ;-)...and not too fast.

Agree with necker that the time in Bologna is rather a lot...but of course you can do daytrips from there (eg Ravenna or Ferrara...two great options).

7

On the railpass...the only way to know is to add up the individual legs and then compare.

As said above,if you book point to point tickets in advance you can get discount prices.

However you trade cost for freedom..personally I would rather fly into Berlin,see how I like it and take it from there.No need to book all the accommodation in advance,no fixed dates and so....no advance train tickets!

8

Yesterday there was a person who wanted to visit 4 (5 if you include Vatican City) countries in 8 days, so you can imagine I was deeply touched when I saw you're actually spending 3-4 full days in most places that aren't all 500km+ apart ;-) Having said that, I agree that a trip to Europe just isn't complete if you only visit bigger cities.

If I understand your definition of "full day" correctly, doesn't that mean that you're counting travel days twice?

In your current plan you've allowed plenty of time to take a good look at every place at a leisurely pace, in fact I find 5 days for Vienna and 4 for Bologna even a bit too much; on the other hand, your current schedule does allow for day trips to smaller towns or into the country (I wouldn't bother with day trips to the capital of another country - admittedly based on second-hand information, Bratislava wouldn't be my first choice if I'd go to Slovakia, even though it's temptingly close for a day trip from Vienna).
Also - something you may want to consider when you decide on the rail pass vs point-to-point issue - most of the cities on your list aren't too far apart. Since you have already allowed for a whole travel day (perhaps two, if my assumption in the 2nd paragraph is correct), you could take a faster train (= more expensive unless you book a non-changeable discounted ticket in advance) but you could just as well chose to travel by slower trains that don't need to be booked in advance, and make a stopover somewhere enroute, either for lunch and a short walk, or for an overnight stay.

9

Smaller places in btween (you can't visit them all; just in order to give you some ideas, google for them):

Berlin - Prague:
Wittenberg, Halle, Leipzig, Naumburg, Muehlhausen/Thueringen, Erfurt, Weimar, Dresden, Fichtelgebirge, Elbsandsteingebirge....

Prague - Vienna:
Karlstein, Cesky Krumlow, Brno....

Vienna - Salzburg:
Melk, Mauthausen, Salzkammergut (Hallstadt, Traunsee, Bad Ischl, St. Wolfgang ..).....

Salzburg - Munich:
Herrenchiemsee castle

Munich - Venice:
Oberammergau/Linderhof castle, Garmisch/Zugspitze, Ettal Monastery, Wieskirche, Mittenwald, Hohenschwangau, Innsbruck, Sterzing, Brixen, Bozen, Val Gardena, Alta Badia, Parchi Nazionali delle Dolomiti, Verona, Lake Garda......

Venice - Florence:
Padova, Ferrara, Mantova, Ravenna, San Marino, Parma .....

Florence - Rome:
Lucca, Siena, Volterra, Tarquinia, Chiusi, Orvieto, Perugia, Assisi....

10

thanks a lot for your help!

To clarify the concept of a ''full day'' lets say i plan to stay in Berlin from may 14 to may 18 and in Prague from may 18 to may 23. If take the train from Berlin to Prague on may 18, that day is not considered a ''full day'' in neither Berlin or Prague.

I'd rather spend a little to much time in a place than not enough. I know that one of these days i'll just feel like sitting in a park reading a book for a whole aftenoon :). I'll definitely make some more research on possible days trips. Thanks a lot for your suggestions. Ravenna is a place that i would actually love to see but i didnt think it could be done on a day trip!

11

Its a nice city to stay over in of course,but its only 1 hour to 1.20 minutes each way on the train from Bologna,so its certainly possible as a day trip....

12

One month rail pass may be cheaper if you're under 25...add up the legs and do the math when you have it figured out.

13

I fear sarcasm may be lost on this OP......