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Most particles seem to be postpositions but I'm sure I've seen say a noun
followed by a location particle followed by "wa" or "ga" or possibly "wo" but
when I've tried to use it I've only confused my Japanese friends.

Under what circumstances can multiple particles end up next to each other and
what's the most that could end up in sequence?
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grammar usage particles syntax
Are there cases when two or more particles will occur next to each other without intervening lexical words?
Although it's sometimes hard to tell whether these are single particles put
together or a different syntactic element made of two kana, I think it can
happen:

は will very easily follow a に or a で. For example:

  * 日本 **には** 美しい都市が多い。

  * 僕 **には** 彼女の言うことが分かった。

  * 英日の翻訳と日英の翻訳 **では** 、英日の翻訳を希望する人のほうが多いようです。

(and many cases where it might be hard to decide whether では is really two
particles or one, such as ではない etc.)

Intuitively, I wouldn't expect が to follow another particle, but I might be
wrong.

Finally, not sure if they are the kind of syntactic markers you were
interested in, but "particles" such as 'よ' and 'ね' can and will follow all
sorts of other particles.

As long as your sentence ends with another particle, it should be possible to
tack a 'ね' or a 'よ' at the end (though I can't think of many cases where it'd
make sense with よ):

  * ７時にね。 
  * 僕はね。

(of course, these aren't very full-formed sentences, since having a particle
at the end often requires eliding the verb), but they are valid examples
nonetheless.

As for 'よ' + 'ね', counter-intuitive as it is (since you are often taught they
represent the two near-opposite feelings of 'assertion' vs. 'question'), it is
very common to hear them together (possibly more in female-speech):

  * 今の日本は自滅へのみちを突き進んでいますよね。

  * 落ち目って言うけど、まだイケるよね。
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There are many instances where one particle immediately follows another.
Examples:

>   * アメリカ **では** 何語が話されていますか。
>   * 車 **には** 一人分の空きがあった。
>   * ごめん、僕 **にも** 責任があるんだ。
>   * どんな子供 **でも** そのくらい答えられる。*
>   * 雹が降る **のを** 見たことがありますか。
>   * 彼は走る **のが** 速くないわけではない。
>

Although it is very difficult to exhaustively explain all of the
possibilities, one thing in particular stands out to me as a rule:

Because the nominalizing particle 「の」 turns what it follows into a noun, it
can generally be followed by anything which can follow a noun (see final two
examples with を and が above).

* Although でも is often considered one "word", it is actually the particles で and も stuck together.
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Japanese has many particles (助詞), and they behave in many varying and
different ways, so it's helpful to categorize them before we can see how they
can be combined. The semi-traditional classification you'd find in Japanese
dictionary usually goes along these lines (note that many particles can fall
into more than one of these categories as they have different uses, e.g. から
can be used to indicate direction, but also as a conjunction indicating
reason):

  * **格助詞** _Grammatical role particles_  
These particles usually follow a noun phrase, and indicate its grammatical
role in the sentence or in relation to other phrases. This category include
particles such as が (subject marker), を (direct object marker), の (both the
nominalizer and the genitive relation marker) and markers of
location/direction/time such as で、に、へ、から (in the meaning of from) and まで. It
also includes と in the meaning of "with" or when used as a quotative particle.

  * **並立助詞** _Connective particles_  
These particles usually connect two noun phrases. This obviously includes と
(when used as an "and") and や, but also か in the meaning of "or".

  * **係助詞** _Linking particles_ (I prefer the name _Information structure particles_ )  
These particles are perhaps the hardest to describe. They indicate some link
to contextual information, and usually put different kinds of emphasis on
whatever they mark. The best way to describe them, in my opinion, is using
information structure theory, but it's too complex and irrelevant to include
here. This category includes は, も、さえ and こそ.

  * **終助詞** _Sentence-final particles_  
These are the hard-to-translate particles we all know and love. They may come
only in the end of the sentence, and they usually indicate
[pragmatic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatics) attitudes (such as "This
is a question" or "I'm asserting this") or emotions. This category include the
question marker か、よ、ね、ぞ、かな, etc. Note that さ、よ and ね are also part of the next
category:

  * **間投助詞** _Interjectional particles_  
These particles are very similar to the sentence-final particles, but they may
also appear in the middle of the sentence, usually in the end of a complete
phrase. ね、さ、よ (when used as a
[vocative](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocative)) are included here: 「私は
**ね** 、…」「私って **さ** 、…」「わが友よ、行け！」 (the last one is quite archaic and probably
jocular :)).

  * **副助詞** _Adverbial particles_  
These particles are usually defined as "particles that act on the whatever
they follow as if you've put an adverb describing it". I think this definition
kinda sucks, and this category ends up being quite a mixed bag, usually
including such particles as: だけ、くらい、など、ばかり and ほど.

  * **接続助詞** _Conjunctive particles_  
These particles are equivalent to conjunctions in English: they connect
whatever they follow (which is usually a full clause ending with a verb) to
the main sentence. This category includes particles such as から、けど、ので、のに、as
well as が when it's used in the meaning of "but".

This classification system of particles is probably far from being perfect,
and you can make many variations of it or even reform it completely - but it
goes to show you that Japanese particles are extremely varied and perform many
different jobs, so laying out how they may be combined is extremely complex.

Using this categorization system, you can say that linking particles may
generally follow grammatical role particle when they indicate a role in a
sentence (this doesn't include the genitive の), but が and を has a strange
property: when you add most linking particles to them, they disappear and are
replaced entirely by は、も or whatever linking particle you've added, and you
can no longer differentiate between subjects and direct objects. The only
exception to this rule I can think of right now is こそ, which actually comes
before the grammatical role particle and not after it.

Sentence-final particles obviously can't follow grammatical role particles or
linking particles, since particles of these classes only come after the parts
of the sentence that appear before the verb, while sentence particles only
follow verbs. They usually intermingle only with other sentence-final
particles (or with interjection particles that double as sentence-final such
as さ and ね).

Connective particles also don't mix very well, since they usually come in the
middle of a list of nouns, where no other article (even an interjection
particle) can be placed. They also don't tend to mix with each other.

Other classes of particles don't tell us a lot. The interjection particle ね
can generally follow almost any other particle, and really is very flexible,
while the vocative よ usually follows only nouns or names. I think さ is
somewhere in the middle.
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I'd like to supplement Boaz's excellent answer with some concrete examples,
for those members who learn better by example.

_Using this categorization system, you can say that linking particles may
generally follow grammatical role particle when they indicate a role in a
sentence..._

> 僕 **に** 難しすぎるよ。 _It is too difficult for me._
>
>   * 僕 **には** 難しすぎるよ。 _[Others may find it easy, but] it is too difficult for
> me._
>   * 僕 **にも** 難しすぎるよ。 _It is too difficult for me as well._
>   * 僕 **にさえ** 難しすぎるよ。 _It is too difficult even for me._
>

_...が and を has a strange property: when you add most linking particles to
them, they disappear and are replaced entirely by は、も or whatever linking
particle you've added, and you can no longer differentiate between subjects
and direct objects._

> 猫 **が** 犬 **を** 噛んだ。 _The cat bit the dog._
>
>   * x 猫 **もが** 犬 **をさえ** 噛んだ。
>   * 猫 **も** 犬 **を** 噛んだ。 _The cat bit the dog too [after the dog was bitten
> by something else]._
>   * 猫 **が** 犬 **さえ** 噛んだ。 _The cat bit even the dog._
>   * 猫 **は** 犬 **しか** 噛まない。 _The cat bites nothing but dogs._
>

_Sentence-final particles obviously can't follow grammatical role particles or
linking particles, since particles of these classes only come after the parts
of the sentence that appear before the verb, while sentence particles only
follow verbs._

> その本 **を** 俺 **に** 渡せ。 _Hand that book over to me._
>
>   * x その本 **をぞ** 俺 **に** 渡せ。
>   * x その本 **を** 俺 **にな** 渡せ。
>

_They usually intermingle only with other sentence-final particles (or with
interjection particles that double as sentence-final such as さ and ね)._

> それは嘘です。 _That's a lie._
>
>   * それは嘘です **よね** 。 _[I'm pretty sure] that's a lie [but I'm asking to make
> sure]._
>   * それは嘘 **かよ** 。 _That can't be lie! [asserting disbelief]_
>

_Connective particles also don't mix very well, since they usually come in the
middle of a list of nouns, where no other article (even an interjection
particle) can be placed. They also don't tend to mix with each other._

> サツキ **と** メイは姉妹です。 _Satsuki and Mei are sisters._
>
>   * x サツキ **とだけ** メイは姉妹です。 _(It makes no sense to qualify the と because it
> applies equally to both)_
>

_The interjection particle ね can generally follow almost any other particle,
and really is very flexible, while the vocative よ usually follows only nouns
or names. I think さ is somewhere in the middle._

> 僕 **は** 姉 **と** 映画を見にいった。 _I went to see a movie with my sister._
>
>   * 僕 **はね、** 姉 **とね、** 映画を見にいった。 _I, um! Went to see a movie! With my
> sister! (five-year-old boy)_
>   * 僕 **はさ、** 姉 **とさ、** 映画を見にいった。 _I like, went to see a movie with, like,
> my sister. (thirteen-year-old boy)_
>

I would add that adverbial particles can link up with grammatical role
particles and linking particles.

> 僕 **だけが** 分かる。 _Only I understand._  
>  それ **ほどは** 悲しくないぞ。 _I'm not **that** sad._  
>  リス **なども** いる。 _[In addition to other things,] there are squirrels and
> other creatures like that._
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