Trains France to Germany and back, German Rail Pass

Okay, here's European Rail 101: 1. First, forget about Rail Europe. They are a reseller, only sell certain tickets, and mark up what they sell. Unless you're buying a rail pass, you never need to look at them again. 2. Rail Europe itself does not operate any trains. Trains are operated by national rail companies (SNCF in France, Trenitalia in Italy, etc), and sometimes by other companies that compete with them (like Thello or Italo). Note that these new, private companies do not accept rail passes at all. 3. The best place to check schedules is the German Rail site: http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en. Although this site will not have prices for trains outside of Germany, it has schedules for all of Europe. 4. Advance tickets bought over the Internet are usually much cheaper than a pass, but in order to figure this out, you need to post EXACTLY which trips you are considering taking, and on what dates. 5. Buying tickets in advance is not always easy, but people here will be glad to help. continued..

continued. Here's some info about the routes you did mention: For Caen to Paris, others have posted that there are problems due to upcoming construction, but if you are taking that route, you'd buy it from http://www.tgv-europe.com. You choose Great Britain as your country and refuse all offers to switch to Rail Europe (unless you want to get ripped off). You can either print tickets at home, or pick them up in France, depending on the type of ticket. For Paris to Cologne, that's the Thalys train. These are REALLY cheaper if booked far in advance, on the TGV-Europe website. And if you think a rail pass will help here, think again; they limit the number of pass-holder tickets and charge a lot for them. So, you want to nail this down ASAP. For trains in Germany, you don't need seat reservations. You may want advance tickets (discounted) if you're taking fast trains, or may be able to take advantage of Laender tickets (all day travel within a region for cheap, as long as you're not on the fast trains). For Munich to Paris, you'd book in advance. Looking on the DB site I mentioned in the last post, I see that only some runs are fully bookable on DB; you may need to book part on DB and part on TGV-Europe. Again, the real experts here (and I'm certainly not in their league) can tell you all about it, once you post your dates. If you are taking a lot of rides in Germany, and want the freedom to take almost any train (including the fast ones), a pass can be worth it. You do have to look at the numbers though, and balance cost and convenience.

Thank you! This is a lot of help. I have always heard that Rail Europe was a ripe off, thank you on how to get by the website set up. I appreciate all the help.

"For trains in Germany, you don't need seat reservations." True, but for Intercity Express (ICE) trains, they're a good idea, and the fee is nominal. The reason? On a particularly crowded train, rather than searching back and forth through congested aisles, you can determine in advanced where to wait on the platform for your carriage, enter it directly when the train arrives and proceed immediately to your waiting (and empty, usually) seat.