Benelux-Germany Rail Pass?

" I could do a Benelux-Germany pass for 6 days, 2 adults, 2nd class for $296 each." $296 *each** x two = almost $600. That's more than $450, right?*

Get educated about the Bayern-Ticket. It's an all day hop on/off pass for regional trains in Bavaria. It costs 28€ for 2 adults. With it you can go from Rothenburg to Munich, Munich to Castles to Munich in a day, and Munich to Salzburg and back in a day. Dachau is a suburb of Munich and you can get there and back, and everywhere else in downtown Munich, with a München XXL Gruppentageskarte for 14,80€ for both of you. That's 3 x 28€ plus 14,50€, 98,50€.

With advance purchase from the Bahn, you can get a Europe-Spezial Belgien ticket for Brussels to Rothenburg for as little as 118€ for both of you, 216,50€ total, about $238.

That leaves about 4 days in Benelux plus Bruges to Brussels to use your ticket to Rothenburg. You've already said that 2 days in Belgium would cost $25. What do the other trips in Benelux cost?

BTW, you show 9 days of travel. A six day Benelux-Germany pass plus 2 days in Benelux is 8 days. What is the ninth day?

Thank you, Lee! I'll read up on the Bayern-Ticket. I think these lower-cost options make me even more uncertain about whether a Benelux-Germany pass is the easier way to go. I'm thinking it's not with your info.
My cost calculations for all of the point-to-point tickets ($450) was for each person, $900 total-which seems ridiculous. Though with your suggestions, some days are greatly decreased.
My 9th day was Dachau-Munich, which I did not calculate, assuming it was negligible expense since it's so close.

My rough calculations of point-to-point tickets per person:
2: Amsterdam-Haarlem-Edam-Amsterdam - $22
3. Amsterdam-Delft-Rotterdam - $50
4. Amsterdam-Antwerp-Brussels - $55
5. Brussels-Ghent-Bruges - $16
7. Bruges-Brussels-Cologne-St.Goar-Bacharach-Rothenberg - $119+??
8. Rothenberg-Munich - $65
10. Munich-Castels-Munich - $60
12. Munich-Salzburg-Munich - $80
Total: $467 per person
By your suggestions, days 8, 10, and 12 are reduced to $28 each for a savings of $121 per person.
Any other ideas/suggestions?

Here is information on the Bayern-Ticket. Each German state, or Land (pl Länder) has a version of the Länder tickets. They are valid basically within the borders of the Land, although some Länder-Tickets are combined and border station outside a Land are often included.

What website did you use to come up with your $450 estimate? Rick's map is a rule of thumb but only shows the maximum possible fare and is in dollars [edited]. When the price of the euro per dollar drops, as it has recently, Rick's maps overestimates the cost. Prices on Rail Europe are higher than what you would pay in Europe because they include a profit.

The bestplace for predicting fares in Germany and some fares for outside Germany to or from inside Germany is the German Rail Query webpage.

The Munich-Salzburg roundtrip travel day is a good example of savings if you choose regional trains and the Bayern ticket (priced better for pairs and groups than for individuals) vs RailJet trains (about a half hour faster in each direction). Many point-to-point discounts are summarized on our German rail page.

Bruges-Rothenburg is a long travel day by train and boat. I would be looking at departures that connect at Brussels to a German IC or ICE train, e.g., the departure around 9 a.m., rather than a reserved Thalys train (often more expensive and/or restrictive). The boat ticket is a separate purchase; passes provide a 20% discount on the K-D boats this year, not full coverage.

If you are looking at a pass for hop-on convenience on your longer travel days, then note that the "extra" days cost less. For instance, the price difference between 6 and 10 travel days is $100 or $25 per day per person on the Benelux-Germany pass.