BahnCard vs 10 Travel Pass ( currently on sale)

Travel passes are not completely convenient because you still need to make a seat reservation on the longer distance high speed trains. You can not just hop on.
The DB mobile ap is similar to the Swiss Rail ap (this I have experience with). You get an e-ticket with scannable qr code on the phone or tablet after you buy it with the credit card stored in the ap, so you do not have to enter the credit card number all the time. Just remember bring your adapter so the battery does not die on the phone.

Jazz+ is wrong about reservations. They are not required on any daytime train within Germany. Completely optional and rail pass travelers can, indeed, just hop on.

"This would be a plus when making connections."

I'm not sure what you meant here. If you were buying a regular ticket between any two points, the computer would automatically route you by the fastest options and sell all the pieces at the same time, whether you buy online or at the station. You can buy most tickets at most stations, especially if they are staffed, and don't have to wait until you get to that destination.

ok I got the wrong country

However I read with a DB Card and the DB Navigator app

If you mean by "DB Card" a regular BahnCard - no, that's an annual subscription for a 50% reduction and way too expensive for your trip (you would need one per traveller!). You might want to check out saver fares ("Sparpreis") and Laender tickets instead (i.e. tickets valid on regional and local trains, trams and busses in a single state, say, Bavaria or Hassia). Both types of tickets are subject to certain restrictions: saver fares are bound to specific trains, Laender tickets are valid from 9am only on workdays (all day on weekends and holidays). If you plan carefully you will be most likely better off with those tickets than with a travel pass. And yes, the DB app wokrs fine (for me at least).

Is this the pass deal you are talking about? $542 for a 10-day flexi-twin-pass? You will be making several long train trips, and that's possibly a good deal for you at $27 each per travel day.

https://www.germanrailpasses.com/sale

With a rail pass, there is nothing to buy or reserve at the station. You don't have to commit in advance to traveling on specific dates or at specific times (as you must with the saver fares) and you can travel at any hour, on weekdays before 9:00 (as you can not with the Ländertickets.) You do not have to worry about mistakenly crossing into a "Land" that isn't covered by your Länderticket - the rail pass covers all of them. You can travel on any train - no need to worry whether you're on a long-distance train (which can't be used with Ländertickets) or a local/regional train. You can change your itinerary altogether at a moment's notice if you wish. You can also take a spontaneous, unplanned, and free day trip if you wish; maybe you arrive in Munich and check into your Munich hotel at noon, but then you hear about some festival that afternoon in Landshut... with a pass you just get on another train and go, returning whenever you like that day, at no extra charge.

September isn't that far away - I don't know what prices are like now for whatever journeys you would like to make, but DB saver fare tickets for the longer trips have been on sale at this point for maybe 4-5 months already, and prices do rise as tickets sell... buy asap if you buy at all... If you don't mind committing to a strict schedule at this point, check them first to see whether you will save substantially by pre-purchasing individual travel legs. And if you know exactly which short trips you will make, check the Ländertickets too for travels within a single Land - those prices won't change.

Feel free to share your exact itinerary, if you have one, for help with single-journey pricing (some short trips are not priced out the DB site.

But keep in mind that price isn't the only measure here - the rail pass is obviously very convenient.

how much Romantic Road? this is usually done as a bus trip

http://www.romantischestrasse.de/index.php?id=889&L=0

Thank you to all for your replies. The ticket options for the DB trains gets confusing because of the number of them but I think with your help we are figuring it out. We worked out today our actual cost for trains at regular ticket prices, including doing the Romantic Road by train- not sure yet if that's what we'll actually do. Thoughts?
Back to trains: the regular ticket cost is € 379, for our trips. The 7 day German Rail Pass Twin Flexie is € 416, The Rail Pass has the big advantage of easy off/ easy on, although with the ability to buy electronic tickets at regular price with DB Navigator app for an entire route with connections, it may not be that much of an advantage. As you can see the prices between the 2 are close.
I'm leaning to the Rail Pass, my husband the regular ticket price. So one other question is does the rail pass work for local busses? Say the bus from Baden- Baden rail station into town, likewise to get around Munich?
Thanks in advance. I am impressed with the level of knowledge that's out there and the commitment of R. Steeves followers to help out each other.
Gwen

No, the GRP does not include buses. But if instead of a railpass, you used a Baden-Wuerttemberg Ticket (28 EUR for 2), it would be included, provided you were just traveling in that German "Land" for the day. Same for Munich if you were traveling on a Bayern Ticket (31 EUR for 2) within Bavaria. All local transport in Bavaria, buses, trams, U-bahns for the day of validity, after 9 am weekdays, all day weekends.
Why don't you post your itinerary and we can take a look at it.

Most local buses in Germany, you can buy tickets from the driver. In Munich, you can buy inexpensive daily transit passes to get around the city.

"my husband the regular ticket price." - I always feel a failure if we let people pay that! As Sam says, give us an idea of itinery and I'm sure we can find savings.

Ok so here you go:
Frankfort to Bacharach Day 1
Bacharach to Moselcern and back. Day 3
Bacharach to Baden - Baden. Day 4
Baden- Baden. to. Munich. Day 6
Munich to Dachau. and back Day 7
Munich to Strasburg and back. Day ?

Munich to Fussen. Day ?
Fussen to Rothenburg. Day ?
Rothenburg to Frankfort. Day 13

There's your challenge folks. You asked.
Thank you,
Gwen

Bacharach - Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden - Munich
Rothenburg ob der Tauber - Frankfurt

There are no dates in your itinerary so we can't price these long journeys for you - I suggest that you do that at the DB itinerary page.

Note that the trip to Rothenburg is NOT on the Romantic Road. Not that you need to travel the Romantic Road necessarily. You might want to look at the Romantic Road bus instead if you really want to do that but it's not the choice I'd make - many downsides to that trip. Wuerzburg is a RR town on the way to Frankfurt that you must pass through; perhaps you could make a stopover there, using lockers to stow bags for several hours.

Short trips by day pass can be priced as follows. Prices are for two. Buy tickets at the station. Bayern ticket and VRM mini-group tickets have a weekday after-9-am restriction. All journeys must be done on regional and local trains only - no long-distance trains.

Frnkfurt Airport - Bacharach = E24 standard RMV fare
Bacharach - Moselkern = E22 VRM mini-group ticket
Munich - Strasburg (SALZBURG?) - Munich = E31 Bayern ticket
Munich - Dachau - Munich (this is a cheap trip, likely less than E20, on the MVV system)
Munich - Fuessen = E26 Regioticket Allgäu-Schwaben
Fuessen - Rothenburg: you can do this on a Bavaria (Bayern) ticket day pass but it's a 5-hr. trip on 4-5 different train = E31

.

Munich to Strasburg and back. Day ?

Do you mean Salzburg instead? You rode past Strasbourg (F) between Bacharach and Baden-Baden. I am going to assume this is Salzburg.

Frankfurt to Bacharach Day 1
RMV ticket for 2 people, 23.90 EUR

Bacharach to Moselcern and back. Day 3
Rheinland-Pfalz Ticket for 2, 29 EUR

Bacharach to Baden - Baden. Day 4
Quer durchs Land Ticket (weekday) for 2, 52 EUR or Weekend Ticket for 2, 44 EUR

Baden- Baden. to. Munich. Day 6
Flexpreis ticket using IC train for 2 138 EUR

Munich to Dachau. and back Day 7
MVV day ticket for XXL district for 2 to 5 people, 15.90 EUR

Munich to Salzburg and back. Day ?
Bayern Ticket for 2, 31 EUR

Munich to Fussen. Day ?
Regio-Ticket Allgaeu Schwaben for 2, 26 EUR

Fussen to Rothenburg. Day ?
Bayern Ticket for 2 31 EUR

Rothenburg to Frankfort. Day 13
Quer durchs Land Ticket (weekday) for 2, 52 EUR or Weekend Ticket for 2, 44 EUR

There you have it, 398.60 EUR for 2 people. 9 travel days. Could be less if the QdL trips fall on weekend or holiday.
So the 10 day Flexi Twin Pass (Promotion) for 426 EUR is not a bad deal. You can have a freer choice of trains and departure times.
I did not consider Sparpreis tickets in this, which would help on the Baden-Baden to Munich leg especially.

Sam has you on the regional train day passes for the 3 "long" trips I identified... Check out the long-distance high-speed trains for those trips at the DB website, including the total travel time and number of changes you'll need to make - those 3 journeys may or may not be worth the trouble by regional train.

It occurs to me that you might want to go with that 7-day rail pass at €416 for 7 of those trips - then pay separately for the two cheapest ones (probably the outing to Dachau (E16) and day trip to Moselkern (E22.) That would be E416 + E38 = E454, and you could use the fastest trains available for all 7 rail pass trips; there'd be no pre-booking and no commitment to specific trains and travel times. You would have 3 tickets total to buy instead of 9 separate ones. And you would eliminate the 9 am Bayern ticket restriction (which matters a good deal IMO on a day trip to Salzburg!) I think the 10-day pass cost is priced at €461 if the price is $542.

One more consideration... Buying the rail pass in Germany when you arrive means you get in-person assistance with the purchase and advice/instructions for using the pass. This is a good opportunity to ask questions as well. And you don't have mailing to deal with. (I think that sale rail pass is online-purchase only.)

Places you can buy the rail pass in Germany:
https://www.germanrailpasses.com/plan-your-trip/travel-resources/aid-offices-germany

Here is the DB GRP Promotion fare price list, good for travel to the end of October.
https://www.bahn.com/en/view/mdb/bahnintern/international/partnerbilder/pdf_2017/mdb_251571_pricelist_grp_promo_010817.pdf

Thank you everyone. I'm going to crunch through this although not at the moment as I'm enjoying a beautiful lake in Maine for the day. I'll get back if I've got further questions.
The best traveling,
Gwen