Need rail advice-7 day rail pass or pay by the trip?

Yes, you're missing the Bayern Ticket. If you are by yourself, you can travel at the rate of 25 EUR per day using regional trains and buses, travel after 9 am weekdays, all day Saturday and Sunday. 7 times 25 is 175 EUR.
https://www.bahn.com/en/view/offers/regional/regional-day-tickets.shtml?dbkanal_007=L04_S02_D002_KIN0060_REGIO-INDEX-LAENDERTICKETS_LZ01
You will not be leaving Bavaria, in that Salzburg Hbf is considered part of Bavaria for travel purposes.

Edit, since you know about it, sprinkle in a few early morning starts by getting a ticket as far as the first stop that gets there at 9 am, then ride on the Bayern ticket for the rest of the trip.

A 7-day German Rail flexi pass for one adult is €277 or $302 if you buy it from DB (German Railways.) You can get it in Munich at the airport or the main station.

But I suspect you might not be figuring the individual p2p tickets accurately. On Sat or Sun you do NOT have to leave after 9 on the Bayern Ticket.

It's not clear how you are structuring your itinerary, whether you are doing some of those places as day trips - which could be wise. Munich-Regensburg-Munich is €20 on a "Servus Ticket" (day pass like the Bayern Ticket but cheaper) so it may be worth an extra night or two in Munich for certain outings. I will mention some other day passes below that you may not know about.

Let's say you did a day trip on Sunday 5/21 to Salzburg on the Bayern Ticket from Munich and returned - that's doable either on a Bayern Ticket or on a "Guten Tag Ticket" for €21 round trip and you can leave early (it's Sunday.)

On Monday you could use the "Servus Ticket" (€20, valid after 9) to Regensburg on the 9:01 departure, return again to Munich in the evening.

On Tuesday you could use the "Regio-ticket Werdenfels" - see link for map of coverage (€20, valid before 9:00.) Travel from Munich to Oberammergau first, then continue to Mittenwald.

On Wednesday you could buy a normal ticket (valid before 9) from Mittenwald to Reutte (€14.20) and catch the bus to Füssen from there (small fee, short trip.)

(Where are we at now? About €75 I think.)

Then you have a long trip to Rothenburg and another long trip to Munich. I really don't think those trips would cost you €300+ but I don't know where you're looking. Are you checking the German Railways itinerary page? You should find all the day passes I mentioned as well as point to point prices there. Rothenburg is ultra-touristy and I don't really recommend it if it's going to cost you a lot of hours and cash, by the way. There are other nice, less trampled places to visit that aren't quite so far.

I'd be surprised if these individual fares added up to more than €200.

Where did you get the $444 for train fare? Did you look it up on the German Rail website? Then you would have gotten the price in euro. What exchange rate did you use? Since you got a price in US dollars, I suspect you used either RailEurope pricing or Rick's handy-dandy chart, neither of which are very good ways to find the cost of rail travel.

I've traveled extensively in Bavaria, and I assure you I have never spent anywhere near $444 for 7 days of travel.

Note: seven Bayern-Tickets would cost 175€, $190 at today's exchange rate. If it really cost $254 more to leave before 9 AM, I would reevaluate the decision to do so.

You conveniently didn't tell us on what legs (to, from, days-of-the-week) you would have to leave before 9 AM so we could dispute your calculations.

If you buy a regular fare ticket to the first station you reach after 9 AM, you can use the Bayern-Ticket for the rest of the day.

I'm sorry it took me awhile to get back to this-I had a migraine today. To get the $444. price I used the bahn.com site. Here is my itinerary.

May 15-20 Munich with side trips to Neuschwanstein on the W the 17th (54.80 euro to leave before 9:00) and Herrenchiemsee (46 euro to leave before 9:00)
train to Salzburg, Austria on the 20, (25 euro)
train to Mittenwald on the 22nd (25 euro)
train to Fuessen on the 23rd (25 euro)
bus to Oberammergau on the 24th (25 euro)
train to Rothenburg on the 26th ((53.90 euro want to leave before 9:00 am)
train to Regensburg on the 28th (25 euro)
bus from Regensburg to Munich airport (35 euro)

Added together equals 314.70 euros. Using currency converter XE.com equals $ 343.20. Wow, something was really wrong with my math, I was off by almost $100.00. I read that a rail pass for those 7 days I use the train has to be ordered before I leave the USA and can't be purchased once I reach Germany. But if it can't be used for those 2 bus trips, and from my reading it can't than it's cheaper if I just buy ticket by ticket once I get there. Although it would be nice to have a rail pass that I could use to just jump on the trains and not waste time buying ticket after ticket. What do you think? Are there limitations on the rail pass?

As for my choices and timing of arrivals-I'm a photographer. While some may consider Rothenburg "cheesy" or a "tourist trap" for me it has what I want for photos. I'm using Oberammergau simply as a base to get to the Zugspitze, Linderhof and Ettal. I know it is much too touristy for what I want. I have a ticket for N'stein on the 17th from Munich and tried to switch it to the 23rd when I'll be in Fuessen but those tickets are already all reserved on the website. That will be my back up date to photograph the castle from Mary's Bridge. I can still do that without a ticket.

Just finished reading more about the rail pass at the bahn.com website. It says I can buy the pass at a db travel center or rail office. It also says it takes 8 business days to reach me if I order it online so that won't work because I am leaving for my trip on May 4th (first going to Poland, then Germany). I agree with you Russ and I thank you so much and all of you for the information. It looks like I was looking at the first class prices by mistake instead of the second class prices which obviously is what I'd choose. If I can buy this at the airport in Munich that's even better.

May 15-20 Munich with side trips to Neuschwanstein on the W the 17th
(54.80 euro to leave before 9:00) and Herrenchiemsee (46 euro to leave
before 9:00) train to Salzburg, Austria on the 20, (25 euro) train to
Mittenwald on the 22nd (25 euro) train to Fuessen on the 23rd (25
euro) bus to Oberammergau on the 24th (25 euro) train to Rothenburg on
the 26th ((53.90 euro want to leave before 9:00 am) train to
Regensburg on the 28th (25 euro) bus from Regensburg to Munich airport
(35 euro)

Although that adds up to €315, that price includes travel on 9 separate days - so to compare railpass/ticket costs, you need to subtract a couple of bus trips at €60 or so - so maybe €255 for tickets vs. the 7-day rail pass price.

It looks like there might be some travel days you haven't counted...

5/15 Do you arrive at MUC? If so it's €12.80 to Munich, "airport-city day ticket" http://www.mvv-muenchen.de/en/tickets-fares/tickets/day-tickets/airport-city-day-ticket/

5/25: Aren't you day tripping from Oberammergau?

Some of your costs are overestimated. I didn't check all but I think you might save about €21 on these...

• To N'stein and back: 7:51? Buy Munich-Kaufbeuren (€19.80) + Bayern ticket for 9:00 on (€25) = €43.80 (not €54.80)

• To Mittenwald: €20, Regio-ticket Werdenfels (not €25)

• To Regensburg: €20, Servus Ticket (not €25)

In Oberammergau numerous innkeepers issue the "Königscard" (free of charge) for free day tripping by bus in the area - where are you staying?

Wow-thank you so very much for this additional information. I really appreciate it. In Oberammergau I'm staying at the Hotel Der Schilcherhof.

I also have another question. Looking at the bahn.com site I can see the choices of times, dates and rail prices. I can see how long a train ride takes and how many transfers each journey takes. What I can't see is where those transfers are. I've clicked everywhere I can think of and haven't been able to find this information yet. Can you help me with this also?

Click on the arrow at the bottom left of each itinerary box where it says "Show Details"

The Schilcherhof doesn't appear to be one of the Königscard participants.

Yes, I checked on that from your link and you are right. It doesn't participate in this. That's okay. I got the room for a great price and it appears to be in a good location-close to the center of town.

How to find the transfer station, which one it will be and which track to look for ahead of time? I did find online where I can see all of the stations where the train will be stopping.

Thanks very much for your help. I really appreciate it and everyone who replied.

Yes I am day tripping from Oberammergau but those are all bus trips I think. One is to Linderhof Castle and if I can make it to the Ettal Monastery. The next day will be to the Zugspitze from the German side that's also a bus according to Rick Steves. I do hope Rick Steves gives accurate information in his Germany 2017 book because that is what I am relying on.

I recommend that you don't order rail passes from the German site for mailing to the US. Beyond their suggested timing, mail can be delayed and refunds may not be possible. You can buy from staffed ticket windows at Munich main train station or through this web site for more reliable home delivery by UPS.

Confirm any critical plans locally as you go. See Guidebook Updates for any news we've learned recently. In the case of train/bus details, you've already seen them on the DB site.

"I am day tripping from Oberammergau but those are all bus trips I think. One is to Linderhof Castle and if I can make it to the Ettal Monastery. The next day will be to the Zugspitze from the German side that's also a bus according to Rick Steves."

I don't know what info you are getting from Rick's book. But here's some info below for you. First, a map of the RVO bus lines - zoom in a few times on the southwest corner to find your travel area:

http://www.rvo-bus.de/oberbayernbus/view/mdb/oberbayernbus/fahrplan/mdb_220504_20160408_buslinien_rvo.pdf

RVO sells a "Tagesticket" or day pass for €10 that covers the bus network you see on this map. You buy it when you board the bus.

Bus stop destination names:

Linderhof palace: Linderhof Schloß, Ettal
Ettal Monastery: Klostergasthof, Ettal

You can find BUS schedules at the DB (TRAIN) itinerary page. Once you pull up the itineraries, click on "details" to see the connections/changes. Then move your cursor over to the "products" column and click on the bus # (9606 or whatever) to find all the bus stops you make along the way. The DB site will NOT provide ticket prices for the buses as they don't sell those tickets.

"...train (from Mittenwald? I thought you were day tripping to N'stein already from Munich) to Fuessen on the 23rd (25 euro)"

By train alone, you'll be spending 4 hours to reach Füssen... Use the DB itinerary page to find a train + bus route instead.

"bus to Oberammergau on the 24th (25 euro)"
I don't see why you should pay €25 for a bus ticket from Füssen to Oberammergau if indeed you can get a RVO day pass for €10.

A German Rail Pass can be bought at the airport station as well - see this complete list of rail pass aid stations:
http://www.germanrailpasses.com/plan-your-trip/travel-resources/aid-offices-germany