Railpass

Most likely. And probably would not have save you money unless you plan on a lot of long train travel. With the supplement fees for rail pass and the discounting available for p2p tickets it is hard to make a rail pass pay for itself. Of course, to travel locally or anywhere, you buy tickets as needed. Without some idea of your travel plans it is impossible to provide a definite answer to your question. But, first guess is that p2p would be cheaper.

Thanks for such a quick reply. We will fly to Paris area, travel by train to Nomandy, Disneyland (dont tease me about that) and Effel tower then take the train to Florence. From Florence area to Rome for 2 days and then fly back to Paris or take the train back to Paris and Fly back to LA. We are also hoping to fit one day in Monoco, but dont really know if that is going to work out. Sorry to be ignorate but what is P2P?

P2P means "point to point", individual tickets for individual trips. You can purchase P2P tickets at the station or you can purchase them online from the national rail companies, often at a discount, never more than the counter price over there. German Rail sells P2P tickets online for the standard fare or with a huge discount if you are buying non-refundable tickets. And you can print them out as a pdf file at home. But, that is only for trips beginning or ending in Germany. Other European Rail lines might do the same, but I know there is a problem with French Rail trying to switch you to the more expensive RailEurope, which they own, and people have had problems in the past getting Italian Rail to accept American credit cards. You can also buy them from a travel agency over here, like RailEurope, but they are marked up over the counter price you'd pay in Europe. You can purchase some Eurail passes in Europe, but not France/Italy passes. You could get a 1st class 3 country select pass for France, Italy, and some other country (like Switzerland), but you will probably spend more for that than individual 2nd class P2P tickets.

Lillian, As the others have mentioned, it's probably too late to sort through the numerous types of Railpasses and order one prior to your trip. Therefore you'll have to use P-P tickets (which will include reservation fees if applicable). You may find it helpful to download the free PDF copy of Rick's Rail Guide from this website. Click the "Railpassess" tab at the top of the page, and look in the lower right corner. What is the total length of your trip, and how long were you planning to stay in each city? Given the list of cities you provided, I doubt that it will be possible to "fit one day" in for a visit to Monaco. Were you planning to visit Normandy as a day trip from Paris? The train journey is not that long, but that's not an ideal destination for a day trip for several reasons. The trip to Florence will be a LONG day. The shortest trip I could find was 9H:18M, with one change at Milano Centrale. The trip from Florence to Rome is only about 1H:35M via EuroStar Italia / Alta Velocita. Using one of the budget airlines for the trip from Rome to Paris is one option, although you likely you'll no longer be able to get the cheapest prices. The trip by train will be a minimum of 10H:45M. When you arrive in Paris, you might take time to visit an SNCF Boutique, as they'll be able to take care of the raiil tickets for you. There are numerous office throughout Paris. If you purchase tickets a few days prior to travel, you may be able to get some discounts. Have you got info on the trip from the airport into Paris? If not, post another note. If you haven't travelled by train in Europe before, it would be a good idea to have a look at the "Rail Skills" chapter in Europe Through The Back Door. Happy travels!