Eurail Pass 4 Countries (Koln-Paris 2 or 3 countries?)

That is 5 countries via Benelux and the Thalys seat reservation Koln-Paris for pass holders is $30 per person in 2nd class or $42 in 1st. Instead, if you book ahead for an ICE/TGV departing from Strasbourg or Mannheim, then seat reservation fees are only $11 and you only enter 4 countries; best to book this at the same time that you buy the pass, since the number of places for pass holders is limited on faster French trains.

Or if you don't have much sightseeing planned in Germany, flights from Vienna to Paris can be pretty cheap; see www.skyscanner.com.

Thank you, Laura. After checking various prices, I will go with the Eurail Select Flexi Saver and buy point to point tickets for Koln-Paris on Thalys. I still save money than doing all trips point to point. We've decide on our cities and this seems to work best. There are so many choices and it can get confusing. I would have liked the fast Koln-Paris run to be 2 countries, or a 5 country pass option. But the Thalys online booking looks easy and the trip is fairly inexpensive for the 3 of us. We're excited! I appreciate this Forum.

jdlew, It doesn't matter if the trains stops in Belgium or not, if it is running on Belgian Railways tracks, then Belgian Railways want paying for transporting you.
An alternative is to head south from Köln to Frankfurt-am-Main, and get a French TGV from there to Paris Gare de l'Est. That route travels directly from Germany to France. But it would take longer.
I still think you made the best decision to buy a normal advance-purchase ticket from Köln to Paris.

OK, now you are doing 3 legs and 3 countries. Are you now overpaying for the Eurail Select Pass?
Rome-Venice can be done with advance purchase non-refundable for 177 euro 2nd cl Economy.
Venice-Vienna can be done with advance purchase non-refundable for 147 euro 2nd cl Sparscheine.
Vienna-Cologne can be done with advance purchase non-refundable for 297 euro 2nd cl Sparpreis.
That comes to 621 euro or about $700. That is for random days a month from now.
How does that compare with the Eurail Pass cost plus associated reservation fees?

Sam's advance-discount ticket prices look like they are total for 3 and cheaper than a Select pass at about $380 per person. If you'll be ready to lock in travel dates and times soon (I don't know when your trip is), then you can probably book all three through a combination of trenitalia.com and oebb.at.

The advantages of the Select pass would be sitting in 1st class if you prefer, not having to book much in advance (if you're not using fast trains in France), and having two more train travel days covered, if you have any trips that you haven't mentioned. Save $75 off an order for Select passes if you use the current coupon code. Unfortunately, the Select pass no longer comes in either 3-country or 5-country options, since a format change last year.

Price comparisons for Venice-Vienna can be affected by whether you are choosing an overnight train with triple sleeper (about €50 pp in addition to a pass), or cheaper style of couchette, or daytime train or train/bus combo (with €5 seat reservation).

Thank you for all your input! It's kinda scary booking all this myself but rechecking the cost of point to point tickets for all my stops is about $300 cheaper than the Eurail pass. I'll give it a try!