I am leaving for a 12 day backpacking trek. We are flying into Paris and out of Prague. I know we want to spend a few days in Paris, a day in Heidelberg, a day or two in Munich and obviously a few in Prague. I need one more stop in the vicinity. our plan for transportation is rail passes, any advice would be greatly appreciated.
THANKS!
Actually, I'd probably disagree with your statement that "I need one more stop in the vicinity" - I think you've got enough already, if, as you say, you want to spend "a few days" in Paris, a few in Prague, a couple in Munich, and one in Heidelberg.
It takes time to get from one place to another, and it takes some time to get "settled" and then to get "unsettled" when you move on - probably a minimum of half a day, so do the math. Sounds to me like you have enough already for a 12-day trip - and do you really have 12 full days (not counting your arrival or departure days, never mimd your post-arrival jetlag day - I gotta ask, since from your post I'm guessing you haven't accounted for that).
Have a great trip regardless.
Also, if you haven't done so already, you may want to research if a railpass will save any money. The only way to do this is to compare the cost of the railpass (plus the inevitable extra fees) for the countries you want to include to the point-to-point ticket prices (calculate these from the national rail websites, NOT RailEurope). Although I'm sure there are some itineraries where a railpass would help you save some money, after several years of doing the comparisons, I've given up with railpasses.
And I agree with the previous poster, with only 12 days, it looks to me like your trip is already packed enough.