Eurrail pass

Unfortunately there is not a simple answer. Days are long gone when a rail pass with a no brainer, good deal. Now with additional fees for required reserved seats and sometimes limited seats for rail passes and the discounts for advance purchase of p2p tickets, you have to do you homework and price your trip p2p and compare with a rail pass. My guess is with your limited trains rides a pass would not save money but do the numbers.

You might want to rethink the number of days (or the rail pass altogether). For instance, you could take the Austrian Rail Intercity bus from Venice to Villach and a train from there to Salzburg for as low as €29 pP with a Sparschiene ticket. That would eliminate a day and the need for one country (Austria) from your rail pass, making it cheaper. But a 5 day, 3 country saver pass is still almost $78 (€56) per day. With advance purchase, Salzburg to Basel is only €34 per person. Check out Milan to Venice, only €31. You might run out of days before you run out of Euro.

Barb, In order to determine whether a Railpass will be more cost effective than P-P tickets, you'd need to do some "number crunching". One thing to keep in mind is that Railpasses do not include the reservation fees that are compulsory on some trains (typically the fast trains). You'd have to pay separately for the reservations. Especially in Italy, you DON'T want to be caught without a valid reservation, as you'll be fined on the spot and it won't be cheap! Note that Railpasses can usually only be purchased here, and not in Europe. Regarding your last sentence, travel by train is usually the best way to get around. However there are a variety of trains ranging from "fast" trains such as the TGV in France (300 kMH!) to slower regional trains that stop at most stations (therefore travel times will be longer). You might find it very helpful to download the free PDF Rail Guide from this website. Click the "Railpasses" tab at the top of the page and then look in the lower right corner. Happy travels!

Thank you for ALL of these responses. Every bit of help is much appreciated!

To buy the eurail or not...that is the question! If I DO: I still have to make reservations for some portions of my travel and pay those additional fees. I may be paying for more than I'm using. I come up with a price of $567/person for an 8 day, 4 country pass, which may be paying for more than I'm using, if I understand what people are saying. If I DON'T get the eurail pass: I still have to make reservations for some portions of my travel. I will pay as I go, from point to point, buying tickets at stations along the way. The prices of my p2p may be considerably less than $567/person, if I read these posts and the online information correctly. Itinerary has changed slightly: 03.04 Basel-Chur (overnight in Chur 1 night) 04.04 Bernina Express to Tirano, then Tirano-Milan and Milan-Venice (overnight 2 nights in Venice) 05.04 Venice 06.04 Venice-Villach (bus) and Villach-Salzburg (train) Overnight in Salzburg 2 nights 07.04 Salzburg 08.04 Salzburg-Basel (train) 09.04 no travel 10.04 Basel-Paris (overnight 4 nights in Paris, with a day trip to Versailles on 13.04) 14.04 Paris-Basel We realize it's a lot in a tight schedule, but we wanted to make the most of our time. Which routes should I make sure have reservations? (besides Bernina Express, which I've already reserved) Thank you!
:)