Car or train from Paris-Freiburg?

Well, I can see fares of 15 euro per person to Strasbourg from Paris in May. Try using http://en.voyages-sncf.com/en/?DISTRIBUTED_COUNTRY=GB. Rail Europe is not the prime site to find real fares.

Rail Europe offers a limited selection of very expensive fares on many routes, to try to sell people rail passes. As others have commented, there are much cheaper advance fares available from the official sites of the national railway systems involved.

As well as the voyage-sncf site mentioned above, try the German site at www.bahn.com. Some people have difficulties using voyage-sncf from the USA or using US credit cards, if so try also www.capitainetrain.com.

The cheapest fares usually go on sale 92 days before the date of travel, but this has sometimes been closer to 4 months recently, and can sell out fairly quickly for popular travel times. Be aware that the cheapest fares are strictly tied to particular trains, and if you miss the one you booked you will probably have to buy a new ticket at the maximum fare.

Thanks Sam and Philip for the tips on the rail questions. Anyone have thoughts on comparing the relative merits of train vs car rental for this particular leg? Even if the price for each is similar, would love to hear about any pros/cons of either method that I haven't already considered (car travel is more flexible/higher potential stress, rail is more predictable/less opportunity to explore).

I think you understand the trade-offs of car vs. train for flexibility, so the remaining question is how much you really want to stop at any particular spot en-route.

The TGV train runs direct from Paris to either Colmar or Strasbourg. If you can leave Paris at 7:00, you get to Colmar by 10:00, giving you some time to see that town. That early departure costs as little as €33 through SNCF or $40 through Rail Europe. Later departures are more expensive, but again Rail Europe is selling the same rates as the operator SNCF, with advance booking being the way to get the best price.

P.S. SNCF may have rates as low as €15, but with very few seats at that price, they will sell out quickly. I did not find any on my test dates. These typically go on sale 3 - 4 months in advance of your travel date. (Currently, it looks like SNCF is booking through the first week of June and Rail Europe is booking through early May on this route.) I guess you're traveling in July, so you should have good luck to get an affordable fare.

Thanks Laura,

Whether it's 15€ or 30€, that's much more reasonable rail cost than the original pricing I was finding. Final destination that day is Freiburg, and it turns out that most of what we're interested in seeing is in far eastern Alsace, which is easily accessible from Freiburg, so the car becomes less important. And the cross-border drop off charge is not just expensive, it's astronomical. One site quoted a one-day rental of over $1200! Why even show that offer? It looks like a typo or that something is wrong with their pricing engine. Plus, there doesn't seem to be any logical place to drop off the car on the French side of the border that's close enough and makes economical sense to then grab a train into Freiburg.

So the train it is. We'll probably go directly to Freiburg, get settled and then explore the area from there, as we'll have 3 days. That makes more sense than hopping on and off trains and worrying about where to store our luggage. Poking around, I did find out one cool thing... there's a regional bus that takes you from Freiburg to Colmar and back for like 13€.

There is no direct train across the Rhine between Basel and Strasbourg.

A car in that area is a great deal of help as you criss cross the border around Colmar.

If the car needs to be returned in France of Germany it could be used a few days then returned in Freiburg im Breisgau or in Strasbourg and then train back. Little black forest train Strasbourg to Offenburg then change for the big train to Freiburg.