Train travel through France - should I get a Eurail for France?

Eurail passes are a bad value almost always. Read the following link before you buy anything:

http://www.seat61.com/Railpass-and-Eurail-pass-guide.htm#Should you buy a railpass or pay-as-you-go

Honestly, for what 8 of you would spend on a rail pass, you could probably buy a van!

The link supplied by the poster above is an excellent link. The quick summary is that France has quotas on the number of seats available for Eurail Pass holders and requires an additional reservation fee besides. If you can choose your train far enough in advance to snag one of the seats before they run out, you probably should go ahead and buy point to point tickets since the main value of the Eurail Pass is flexibility and you have already given that up.

It would be helpful to be able to give a more precise answer to understand what "various parts" means. The answer will vary depending on how many days you will be on the train, what level of speed and comfort you will expect, the distances involved - give us your itinerary and we can work that out - and if you expect to travel in the large, comfortable and spacious standard class or if you feel that you need the extra space, solitude, and quiet of First Class. Most people in First Class are business people looking to get work done in solitude and quiet, retired railway officials, current railway officials, and those tourists happy to pay the higher price for First Class - often North American tourists - and Eurail passholders who are required to have First Class.

You don't give the make-up of your group. All 8 retired? Or a three generation family? Or two parents and 5 small kids? Or a baseball team with pitcher staying home?

Those different groups would all have different requirements.

Do you have a particular need to ride in First Class? Have any of your group ridden the French rails previously?

Normally, I am on the side of the previous posters. I'll play devils advocate and state the case for the rail pass.

Are you there for the entire month of March and do you for see taking a lot of journeys? (8 or 9)
Will you all be traveling together all the time?

If the answer to both is yes, it might not be a bad idea. You'll be paying about $40 to $44 per trip per person 2nd class, plus an $11 reservation fee for TGV trains. So figure $55 per journey, equivalent to 44 euro.
As an example, even now, you can buy TGV tickets for Paris-Avignon for as low as 50 euro 5 days from now.
And I see if you buy before the end of the year, you'll each get a 6 euro bar car voucher (yippee!).
March should not be a time with a lot of other pass holders locking up all the spots on the trains.

You still have to plan in advance and make reservations ahead of time, at least before you board the trains. The days of hop-on hop-off convenience are over, at least in France. You'll also be putting out a lot of money in advance, but it still is worth considering.

Thanks so much for the info. I always do point to point tickets in Italy and England, but didn't know for sure about France. The 8 of us are all retired and we are just starting to figure out where we want to go. The only thing I have heard for certain in Versailles , MSM and the beaches of Normandy.
I appreciate the quick responses and I'm sure I'll have more questions when I learn more about where we are going.

Frances,

You may find it helpful to have a look at Rick's France Railpass info. A Railpass may be a good value, but may depend on which rail trips you're planning to take.

I'm not sure if Railpasses can be used on the RER for trips to Versailles? MSM is not accessible directly by rail and the closest stop is Pontorson-Mont St Michel. From there I believe there's a Bus. The beaches and other historic sites of Normandy cover an enormous area, so you'll only be able to travel to a central "home base" town by rail (Bayeux is a good choice for that). Once there you'll either have to rent a vehicle or use one of the excellent local tours to actually get to the beaches. Using a tour is the easiest and most efficient method, and you'll learn far more about the history with an expert guide than by going on your own.

A France Rail Pass happens not to be a Eurail-brand product; it's one of the few that remain independent of that marketing consortium. A first-class France Rail Pass for three travel days within a month currently costs $201 per person when you travel together and extra days are cheaper at about $35 each. You should reserve ahead for TGV trains. Domestic reservations cost about $13 each with the France pass and Rail Europe sells most of them as e-tickets or you can add them to your rail pass order starting 3 months in advance of each travel date. The pass does not cover RER to Versailles (about $10 roundtrip). You need don't need to reserve regional trains such as Paris-Caen-Bayeux, so the pass allows you to just hop on in those cases.