Train Travel-Varenna, Italy to Fussen, Germany

Don't buy from RailEurope. It charges more than the standard ticket price and some folks have sais that it doesn't sell tickets on all trains.

One option is Trainline, formerly known as Captain Train.

There are good discounts available on tickets bought very early, shortly after tickets go on sale. Prices than rise as the various promotional tickets are sold. The best prices are for non-changeable/non-refundable tickets.

Most people on this site recommend not to use Rail Europe for either looking up times or for buying tickets, it has a limited range of trains.
Use either Italian railways: http://www.trenitalia.com/tcom-en
Or German Railways (DB): https://www.bahn.com/en/view/index.shtml

I looked up Varenna-Esino (which I discovered is the name of the station by looking on a map) to Füssen (note spelling) for a random date in March and it gave me many options all taking about 10½ to 11½ hours with many changes.
From Varenna it is also possible to take a route over the famous Bernina pass, but that would be even slower.

troy,

Forget using Rail Europe, as they only seem to list schedules that they sell tickets for.

Travel from Varenna to Füssen is going to be an "all day affair" of at least nine hours. One of the quickest and easiest trips will be a departure at 08:37, arriving at 17:55 (time 9H:18M, 3 changes). The most "economic" trip will likely NOT be the easiest or fastest so you'll have to decide which factors are more important to you - cost or speed. Use the bahn.de website to look at all the schedule options.

As someone else suggested, trainline.eu is a good place to buy tickets for Germany and Italy (among others).

According to the same rail planner of the Deutsche Bahn there is a slightly less time-consuming connection, taking some 9 hrs with three changes. A perfect route to test the philosophy that it's the journey that matters, not the destination...

I know you asked about price, but I thought I'd mention that's not an easy trip by train. The fastest route takes 9:18 with 3 changes and it's downhill from there, up to 12+ hours with 9 changes. Are you thinking of doing it in one day or stopping overnight somewhere?

In any case, I tested it, and Trainline will ticket this multi-country route. 3-month advance purchase prices are running about €50-€60 for one person one way in 2nd class.

Do you really think seeing Neuschwanstein is worth the hassle? The Alps are between the two cities, and they're a real physical obstacle.
We limit our train trips to 3 hours.

We are making our way back to Frankfurt for our departure flight. Seems like Varenna to Fussen might be out of the way. Any ideas?

If you use Bahn.de to find a rout, and put in Varenna-Espinoza as the start and Frankfurt as the finish, it will show you a route via Bellinzona and Luzern or Zurich, using the new Gotthard Basistunnel under the Alps. The journey time in around 8.5 hours, but you could break up the journey with an overnight in Luzern, a lovely city. Or up in the mountain at Rigi, with beautiful views over the lake.

Or you could head north from Varenna to Tirano and ride the scenic Bernina Express route to Pontresina or a nearby village. This route goes over the Alps, not under, so it takes longer. If you ride as far as Chur it would break the journey nearly in half, or you could stay in the Alps and have a longer ride to Frankfurt the next day.

@ Lola, I think spell-check is messing with you. The start station is Varenna-Esino.