Eurorail Help Needed!

Go here: http://www.seat61.com/ Its the best source for your sort of questions.

Just curious, that's a lot of places in 3 weeks.......

Yes, we know and we're all good with it. We are moving around a lot at the beginning of the trip and then hanging out in Colmar for the second half before a quick stop in Zermatt before flying home. Any advice on the train travel??

I know you want ticketing advice but I'm reluctant to provide such advice because of the itinerary. For example... only 1 day in Paris? Not even that much, really... If you have only part of one day in Paris, do you really want to spend 6-7 hours on the train to get there and back from Colmar?

"Do I have to do the 10-day one or can I get away with the 7 and buy additional tickets?" I count only 7 journeys. Of course it is possible to buy a 7-day pass (as long as each trip can be done in a day) and purchase extra day trips separately - but no one can advise you on costs without knowing what the day trips are. You can check with the national railway sites for prices.

"Does going roundtrip to Paris count as 2 trips if its in the same day?" It's two trips of course - but it's only ONE rail pass day.

"Also, it looks like I can only buy 1st Class for the adults so then I have to buy 1st Class for the kids so we can all sit together?"
You can all sit together - but only in 2nd class if the kids have 2nd class passes. 2nd class is more crowded generally so you might want reservations for any trips that don't already require them.

Some countries require reservations. Some of those have limited quantities of reservations set aside for rail passes - if they're sold, you can't ride the train with your pass. Seat 61 has details.

"...trying to figure out the least expensive way..." That's usually NOT a rail pass. Seat 61 can provide good details on pricing for regular tickets in most countries but you'll need to use those country websites. For your trip into Germany from Vienna (that's a long trip too) and for your trip from Rothenburg to Colmar, use the German Railways site and look for advance-purchase saver fares:

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Thank you for the information. We have timed out all the trips but I didn't look at them for individual pricing because I thought the pass would be cheaper. I will definitely look into that today and start making reservations.

Why the trip to Paris for only one day. Just go from Colmar to Zermatt.

Because my sister has never been to Paris and would really like to see it. Paris is always worth the trip ... in my opinion.

"I will definitely look into that (individual tickets) today and start making reservations."

The reason tickets are often cheaper than passes has much to do with promotional prices offered by each country's railway system. A standard ticket from Vienna to Rothenburg, for example, costs €117.60 or €130.60 at DB (German Railways) depending on the routing - same as the walk-up counter price. Right now I see a lot of July dates with prices between €59 and €79. Your actual price will depend on your exact travel date and departure time. But the longer you wait to purchase, the more you'll pay, since prices go up as tickets sell.

That said... don't start reserving willy-nilly. I'd caution you to check prices and conditions for ALL your routes before you start reserving. These fares are often refundable but refunds come with a penalty. You don't want to get half way through your booking only to find that nothing is available for a later travel leg, or the total price of all legs exceeds the rail pass price.

You may get some more of the help you requested if you share your exact travel dates for each journey you have in mind and if you can be specific about day trips (some of which can be done by cheap group day pass, perhaps.)

Since you have some pretty long rides in the mix here, I think the rail pass will turn out to be a good value. Most families choose to buy the 1st class version for everyone. For the 7-day Eurail Global Pass, that would be $549 per adult and $518 per youth. (Buying the 2nd-class version for the youths only saves $200 but affects options for all four of you.)

The TGV seat reservations to and from Paris are the ones that can limit the number of pass holders, so I recommend adding those to the same booking if/when you buy the rail pass, $12 per person, each way. You could also reserve the night train sleepers at the same time, if you're committed to the travel date. Most trains in Austrian, Germany, and Switzerland don't need reservations, but they did recently add that requirement for the RailJet between Budapest and Vienna (4 euros, not necessary on other RailJet routes).

Each train travel day is a regular, calendar day, midnight to midnight, with an exception for the overnight train.