just confirming: Eurail Global Flex for France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria?

The best way to know if this saves you money is to price out all your tickets as if you bought them Point to point and to compare with the price of the rail pass. Don’t go by charts in the guidebook, but actually price. Keep in mind that high speed trains in France will require extra fee for a reservation beyond the cost of the pass, but they will not for a point to point ticket. French reservation fees can add a pretty cost. Also, if you were planning on riding regional trains in Germany, the 49 euro monthly ticket will be starting in the next few months.
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-49-euro-ticket-expected-to-launch-in-spring-2023/a-64037121

Most of the time, advance sale tickets will be cheaper than a rail pass, but pricing them out is the only way to know for sure.

Not sure I understand what "high-speed trains in France will require an extra fee for a reservation beyond the cost of the pass, but they will not for a point-to-point ticket." Is point-to-point a special kind of ticket? Or just a slower train? For instance, we are taking a train from Paris to Bayeaux; I assume that is NOT a high-speed train so is it a "point to point?"

Also: can you actually BUY tickets through Eurail if you buy the rail pass?

Seat reservations are mandatory on the high speed trains and cost from €10. If you just buy a single ticket, a seat reservation will be included .

If you buy a Eurail Pass it is your ticket. No other tickets are required. Sometimes, you will need to get an additional reservation.

From your questions, I can tell that this is all quite new to you. Good for you for coming to ask questions before you purchase the rail pass!! I wish more people did.

A point to point ticket means for a specific trip such as Munich to Zurich. I would use trainline,com to price your journeys and avoid Eurail for tickets.

https://www.thetrainline.com/en-us

If you list your travel dates and routes, there might be some kind person who will help you price.

A good website to learn about European train travel is
https://www.seat61.com/

I would hold off on buying the passes until you have had a chance to explore options a bit more.

Thank you so much! Yes, I haven't traveled across Europe since (!!!!!) the 1980s!!!!!! And at that time I had a Eurail Pass and didn't really sweat the details. This time it's me and my spouse spending what seems like an ungodly amount of money, so I want to try to get it right! I did look at Seat 61, but my brain got boggled by all the detail... then came to this seat and saw that Rick simply said "Buy a Global Flex Ticket and you're all good." I figured the reality was somewhere in between!

Specifics (there are multiple days in between these!):

Paris Airport to Bayeaux and then back to Paris, maybe via Mont San Michel (several days in Bayeaux and several in Paris)
Paris to Interlaken/Lauterbrunnen with some Swiss cable cars in the Oberland (ideally in the most scenic manner possible)
Interlaken to Freiburg (Black Forest)
Freiburg to Colmar (day trip)
Car in black forest and to Munich
Munich to Salzburg (day trip)

THANKS!!

so are you flying into Paris CDG and out of Salzburg, or out of Munich, or back to Paris to fly home?

Did you say which month?

Sorry, yes: flying into Paris and out of Munich.

We thought it might make sense to go direct from the Paris airport to Bayeaux for a couple nights and then four nights in Paris, so we can get in a full-day tour of the WWII sites and also get to see the Bayeux tapestry, etc.... after looking at options and our interests this seemed less hectic and more fun than a full day trip to Bayeaux from Paris.

So Paris/Bayeaux and back again, then Paris/Interlaken, etc. as posted above.

We are traveling mid-September to early October (17 nights total plus two flight days).

then came to this seat and saw that Rick simply said "Buy a Global Flex Ticket and you're all good."

Rick Steves org sells Eurail Passes and earns commissions from those sales. Chalk that one off to shameless commerce, as the Tappet Brothers used to say.

Lisa, your dates are still a good ways out, so I priced your tickets with as far in advance purchasing as one can get. I used Adult rate for both the tickets and the rail pass. Honestly, for your trips they came out about even, with the rail pass slightly cheaper. I do know that the reservation fee for your trip from Paris to Interlaken is not cheap (I think I remember something like $100, but I could be wrong) and you need to add that to the cost of your rail pass.

I didn't consider any of the trips past Interlaken since your global rail pass would not cover those, although it would allow for a discount.

I don't think you will go terribly wrong either way. I think it gets down to what you want to do. You are going to need to do some research on trains and train times no matter which you choose. You will have to be alert and get the tickets when they are first available if you don't buy the pass and it will limit your flexibility. On the other hand, you will also have to be alert with a rail pass to get the reservation on the Paris-Interlaken trip when they first become available.

The good news is that you have time. There is no special sale on Flexi passes right now that I can see. You might as well wait to make the final decision on this until it is closer to the time of your trip and you could price the actual tickets for your dates. In addition, if you are seniors, that might change things a little as well.

Thank you! You said "I didn't consider any of the trips past Interlaken since your global rail pass would not cover those, although it would allow for a discount" -- do you mean that global rail is not used in Germany?

No, no. I meant that as you go to the section past Interlaken into the Lauterbrunnen Valley, those sections of track and mountain railways are not covered. You do get a discount with your pass. As soon as you are back to Interlaken again, your pass would work.

The Lauterbrunnen Valley is the only section I left out.

Eurail Pass is intended for people for who just buy a return ticket to Europe and then just wing it. If you however have all your trips already planned in advance you are better of just buying tickets. An Eurail Pass is complicated to use in France, and not very good value in Switzerland. It is not valid between Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen for example.

Just buy tickets in advance, and trainline is a good one-stop shop for that.

ah, gotcha, thanks! also am thrilled to learn that 60+ = senior in Europe (as opposed to here where in the US where it ranges from 60-65!).

WengenK -- I know that you can buy a monthlong Eurail and wing it, but the Flex Pass seems to allow you to say "I only need to travel on X number of days," which I kinda like... Why do you say I'd be better off just buying as I go? The prices seem a lot higher?? From what I could see, the Eurail for 7 days would be about $350, with discounts on Swiss cable cars etc... I started comparing head to head and it looked like a good deal. What am I missing?

Lisa, most people on this forum don't like Eurail and will say "don't use it" without doing any pricing. Part of the reason for this is that we have seen people come to the forum after buying the pass and not know what to do with it or struggle to make the mandatory reservations in France. For some, what they thought would make life easy, actually made it harder.

That said, I took the time to price your trip which the others did not. I agree with you that you might save money on your particular itinerary with the pass. It won't be a lot of money, but it could be a savings. It is the reservation fee on the Paris to Switzerland leg that is "hidden" in Eurail's pricing that they are giving you. You will pay more for this for each ticket. This is capacity controlled. Some rail pass users who were unaware of the need for this reservation have been frustrated by costs and not getting it for the date they wanted since they left it too late.

In the end, it is up to you. You really won't make a big mistake either way as long as you are aware of what is needed to make the pass work in France.

You will need to purchase a seat reservation to go from Paris to Basel for the trip to Lauterbrunnen.
You will need to buy a ticket from Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen. You will get a 25% discount with your Global Pass, so the ticket will cost 5.70 CHF
Same on the way to Freiburg.
You will get a 25% discount with your Global Pass on the lifts in the Berner Oberland. For instance, a trip to the Schilthorn from Stechelberg is 81.00 CHF round trip. You also have to pay for the bus to/from Lauterbrunnen, although that is minor cost.

If you intend to rent a car in Freiburg, might as well use it for the Colmar day trip. It is just a short way across the Rhine from Freiburg by car, but will take nearly 2 hours by train because you have to go all the way to Basel first, change trains, then train to Colmar.

This is all so helpful!! Sounds like the biggest issue is gonna be the reservations for the Paris to Switzerland leg and the Golden Pass if we take that route… but Euripides flex seems to make sense as we save a little overall and get the senior discount plus a discount for the Swiss cable cars etc. not gonna get the Swiss pass for three nights in the country!

Thanks for the tip about the Colmar side trip from Freiburg— I thought it might be a hassle to cross country lines by car.

I look a pass prices this way: the 7-day Global Pass costs $383. To that you must add the cost of mandatory seat reservations where required ( certainly for the TGV from Paris to Interlaken). I do not know what those are, ut for the sake of illustration will just round up the total to $400. That means your cost on travel days must average out to $57 each for the pass to be cost-effective.

If you look at the cost of regular (“point to point) tickets bought 4 months ahead to get the best price, you will see that only one of your travel days will exceed $57; the rest will be under that amount, so the average cost will be under $400, including seat reservations.

For example, here is what I found on SBB.CH and bahn.de for the discounted prices for tickets bought online today for a random date in June ( June 28):

Paris to Interlaken Ost on the train with a single change in BSel, CHF 68 in 2d class, including seat reservation for the TGV

Interlaken Ost to Freiburg (via Basel), CHF 40,15

Freiburg to Colmar, €43 ( but there is probably a cheaper option if this is a one-day return trip. and Inagree with Sam that since you are renting a car from Freiburg you may as well use it for the daytrip to Colmar).

Munich tomSalzburg, €12,90.

If you take Sam’s suggestion on the rental car for Colmar ( which you should), and look at how inexpensive thickets can be if purchased about 4 months in advance*, and consider that the Eurailmpass will not help you with the mountain lifts and trains in Switzerland, you will likely conclude that the Eurail pass is not a good value.

Yes there is a learning curve involved in buying the individual tickets, but it is not difficult, and actually can be fun. At least I think it is. And there is some learning involved in using a Global Pass as well—note that you were not aware of the mandatory seat reservations for some trains. Those are not always easy to figure out—we see a lot of questions here on how to get the seat reservations on French and German trains. Also note that the number of seat reservations available to pass holders may be limited, especially on the French TGV.

*Speaking of limitations, the advance-purchase discount tickets on international journeys are also limited in number. Also note that they are generally non-refundable and may be non-changeable. So less flexibility.

Wow Lola thank you!! I will back when I’m ready to start buying and will bookmark the four month mark so I’m ready to buy. I’m a Disney veteran so everything gets planned waaaay ahead— and I’m glad I’m doing the research now!

There is no restriction driving to/from France with a German rental car.

For Salzburg day trip, it is covered by the Bayern Ticket which costs 36 EUR r/t for 2 people. You have to use local trains, and if it is a week day, you must travel after 9 am. If it is a weekend, you can travel anytime. The local train goes every hour. The ticket is good until the wee hours of the following day. Here is a trick to get an earlier start on a week day. The local train departs Munich at 5 before the hour, so at 8:55 you cannot ride it. But if you buy a local Munich transit ticket, you can board the train with a Bayern ticket. The train stops at Munich Ost station at 9:04, so now the Bayern ticket is legal and the local transit ticket covered you from Munich Hbf to Munich Ost.

https://www.bahn.com/en/offers/regional/regional-day-ticket-for-bavaria?dbkanal_007=teaserSliderBigImage_3-1_link_laenderticketbayern

The only thing you'll notice crossing the border between Colmar and Freiburg im Breisgau is that you'll be up on a bridge over the river locks and then over the river. There will be a sign for Germany or France depending in your direction, and a list and graphics of the national speed limits of the country you are entering. No border crossing, no nothing.

There is a McDonalds about a couple of hundred yards into Germany if the French coffee is too bad for you.

If you intend to rent a car in Freiburg, might as well use it for the
Colmar day trip. It is just a short way across the Rhine from Freiburg
by car, but will take nearly 2 hours by train because you have to go
all the way to Basel first, change trains, then train to Colmar.

You can also take the train from Freiburg to Breisach and a bus from there to Colmar. No need to travel via Basel, unless you really want to of course.

The regional rail fare that gets two people from Munich to Salzburg is so good that I can't see any reason to make that trip by car, but just in case you should decide to do that: To use the motorways in Austria, you need to have an Austrian toll sticker affixed to your windshield. I've read they can be purchased at German gas stations. The 10-day sticker costs 9.90 euros. There's a substantial penalty for not having the sticker on your car.

Hi Lisa, I would not buy a Eurail pass for your itinerary because of the all the train ticket discounts available to you that others mention above and because of a few others…. Since you’re going in September/October, you have a lot of advance time to buy your train tickets and save a bundle of money. SNCF, the French national train company, offers deeply discounted high-speed train tickets on their TGV trains that go on sale at www.SNCF-connect/en. 90 days in advance of the train’s departure day. The discounted tickets are called “Prem’s” tickets and they include the seat reservation in the price of the ticket. They only sell a limited number of these tickets and once those are sold out— that’s it. From that point on, the tickets will cost more and generally keep rising in cost up to the train’s departure time. SNCF recently made these Prem’s tickets exchangeable and refundable within generous time limits.
Now, if you travel from the city train station of Paris St. Lazare to Bayeaux, you can get a train taking 2.5 hrs. for as little as US$18. (www.TheTrainline.com) From the station at CDG Airport, the fare will run nearly $100. You can take the RER-B commuter train from CDG Airport into Paris for about $12. The RER-B Express Trains from CDG take about 35 minutes to get to central Paris.
As mentioned above, SBB, the Swiss national train company, ( www.SBB.ch/en) has tickets from Paris to Interlaaken that will match the SNCF Prem’s ticket price to Basel and add the discounted SBB ticket from Basel to Interlaaken which adds up to $86. SBB also sells Saver Day Tickets 60 days in advance of the train’s departure which allow travel for an entire day on SBB’s regular trains in Switzerland for about $55 when they first go on sale. These tickets also are nonrefundable and nonexchangeable. SBB also now sells discounted point-to-point train tickets called “Supersaver” tickets that go on sale 60 days in advance. For the largest saving on these products, buy the first day they go on sale which is 60 days before the train’s departure. If you were leaving the Berner Oberland to see more of Switzerland you might consider one of these tickets— but for the itinerary you’ve written, the point-to-point SBB train ticket from Paris to Interlaaken is the way to go.
Other train ticket costs according to TheTrainline are : Interlaaken to Freiburg im Breisgau ( Germany) ) $33 if bought at DeutscheBahn (www.bahn.de) up to 180 days (6 months) in advance. Deutsche Bahn’s best deals are on tickets called “Sparpreis” and “Super Sparpreis.” Freiburg im Breisgau to Colmar tix are $35 with the best deals going on sale 180 days in advance; Munich to Salzburg is $31 for Roundtrip tickets if bought from Deutsche Bahn 6 months in advance. By the way, Deutsche Bahn will allow you to stop over for a few hours in a town between your departure train station and your destination train station for free—even on discount train tix. All you have to do is declare it at the time you buy the online ticket in the box marked “Stopover” and estimate how long you will be stopping over in the intermediate destination. Between Hamburg and Wismar in Germany I’ve seen Lubeck and between Berlin and Prague I’ve seen Dresden Castle’s Green Vault this way. It can be a great way to save the hassle and expense of doing a roundtrip train ride versus stopping over for free and then just moving on to your next destination. All you have to do is chuck your luggage in a train station locker for less-than-the-cost of a train ticket.
So, an estimate of buying the least expensive tickets in standard class ( aka second class) is: RER-B Express Train from CDG to central Paris $12; US$36 for Paris to Bayeaux Roundtrip; $86 Paris to Interlaaken; Interlaaken to Lauterbrunnen is $9. Lauterbrunnen to Interlaaken $9; Interlaaken to Freiburg $33; Freiburg to Colmar $35; Munich to Salzburg Roundtrip $31. Total=US$251.
Have a great trip!

Interlaken to Freiburg (Black Forest)
Freiburg to Colmar (day trip)
Car in black forest and to Munich
Munich to Salzburg (day trip)

I'm one of several forum posters who frequent the Black Forest. What has not been figured into your finances so far is the KONUS program, which offers totally free public transportation throughout a huge portion of southwest Germany from the Swiss border north to Karlsruhe. I've used the KONUS card on at least 5 separate trips to places in the Black Forest myself. This map shows the area of coverage, with dotted lines representing the train routes.

As BADGER pointed out, "You can... take the train from Freiburg to Breisach and a bus from there to Colmar." The bus costs several Euros. With the free KONUS card in your hand, this train trip is covered, as the map above indicates.

Also covered is every other conceivable Black Forest destination. And the railways include a couple of Europe's most scenic train routes - the Black Forest Railway (Offenburg > Donaueschingen, where the Danube River begins) and the Hell Valley Railway (Freiburg > Donaueschingen.)

This flyer explains how the KONUS card works. There's really no "catch" to getting one or using it for outings. Your innkeeper will hand you the card when you check in - then you hop on any local/regional train or bus you like. The only requirement is that you book your stay in a participating town. Freiburg does NOT participate. But a stay in the towns of Loeffingen, St. Georgen, Steinach, Elzach, Gernsbach, Gengenbach, Neustadt, and Bad Herrenalb (places I've stayed) and 140 other Black Forest towns will in fact take you all around the Black Forest for free. The flyer provides a list of these towns.

Freiburg is a nice city, but it really has little to do with the Black Forest. Staying in the smaller towns will likely put you closer to the things most people want from the Black Forest. Gengenbach is a truly outstanding town and travel base. If you want to stay fairly close to Freiburg for some reason, look into Kirchzarten. My stay in Elzach made Freiburg accessible with a short train ride as well.

Black Forest > Munich: The day pass for Germany will get 2 people there for €51. Munich > Salzburg = the Bayern Ticket day pass (already mentioned.) And as Carol Now pointed out, once it's available, the €49 p.p. monthly ticket (DeutschlandTicket) will cover all of Germany at an incredible price and pretty much wipes out these already-cheap fares.

With all the inexpensive (and free) transport that's available in Germany, it's hard to justify car rentals or the purchase of railpass days.

Thank you Russ!

We picked Freiburg because it's an easy and direct train trip from Interlaken and because we WILL need a car at some point for a couple of oddball trips we are taking to see family roots and I figured it would be easy to get the car in a bigger town.

Once the idea of a car took root, we thought it would be ideal to drive from Freiburg to Fussen, overnight there, and then drop the car in Munich the next day... that way we'd have a prettier, more direct route Freiburg/Fussen/Munich.

We were also thinking of making this a day trip by train: Höllentalbahn: Freiburg im Breisgau to Donaueschingen

We picked Freiburg because it's an easy and direct train trip from
Interlaken and because we WILL need a car at some point for a couple
of oddball trips we are taking to see family roots and I figured it
would be easy to get the car in a bigger town.

Your car pick-up would be a good rationale for staying in Kirchzarten, where Freiburg's rail station (with car-pick-up options) is 13 minutes away. Kirchzarten is in between Freiburg and Donaueschingen on the Hoellentalbahn.

we thought it would be ideal to drive from Freiburg to Fussen,
overnight there, and then drop the car in Munich the next day... that
way we'd have a prettier, more direct route Freiburg/Fussen/Munich.

The train route to Munich via Donaueschingen, via the Lake Constance shoreline, and on to the lake Constance town of Lindau keeps a pretty straight trajectory and is hard to beat for scenery. From Lindau there are direct trains to Munich.

Lindau is an island town and a fine place to spend the night. The island has its own rail station:

http://www.inselwache.de/assets/images/Bild_Lindau.jpg

https://www.bestfewo.de/uploads/pics/Geheimtipp_5_03.jpg

Offenburg (car rental option) is just 7 train minutes from Gengenbach.

If I had roots in the Black Forest, I'd rent a car for one day to explore them. I'd use the rails elsewhere in the area, then leave the area on the train to Lindau (1 night) and Munich.