Best Train Pass for Trip

I did forget to mention that there will be 4 of us travelling together.

You have to do the homework and compare prices. You are correct about the pass and the Eurostar. It is not called Chunnel. With the available discounts for advance purchases and the premiums charged to use a rail pass, it is difficult to make a rail pass pay. But you will only know if you do the comparison.

Thanks Frank. That is one of the reasons that I turned to this learned group.

Mark, As the others have said, you'll have to do some "number crunching" to compare the costs between P-P tickets (which include reservation fees where applicable) and Railpasses (which do NOT include the reservation fees). One point to note is that if you purchase the tickets a few days before you'll be travelling, you may be able to qualify for discounts. One example is the "Mini" fares in Italy, which are substantially discounted. You can obtain a rough estimate of P-P costs by using the "Time & Cost Worksheet" in the Railpasses section on this website (check Compare Point-to-Point Rail Ticket Costs to find the worksheet). Another option would be to call Rick's Rail department for a short consultation (there may be a small charge). Happy travels!

Mark,
Eurail passes don't cover the UK, nor do they cover the train through the Chunnel, hence the reason why you can't use a Eurail pass from London to Paris. As other posters have indicated, it comes down to a numbers crunching game to determine best value. Based on your itinerary , it sounds like a Eurail France - Italy Regional Pass (Youth for your kids, Adult for you) may be your best option IF the numbers suggest a Pass is better than buying point to point tickets overall ( it's more likely that point to point will be cheaper). A little research should be able to determine what will be best for you. Note that if you do choose a Eurail pass, it won't include your travel from London to Paris anyway, so don't include that in your cost estimates, the Pass will cover you from Paris onwards...

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I will look over Rick's book, as well as the new book I just purchased "Europe by Eurail and see how the dollars and cents stack up. Thanks again.

The good news is that with a Eurail pass that includes France you can get a passholder fare on the London-Paris Eurostar. The bad news is that the passholder fare is more than the cheapest advance purchase point-to-point ticket. The good news is that advance purchase fares for TGVs from Paris to Nice can be very cheap. The bad news is that they sell out quickly and the standard 2nd class fare is rather expensive. You can get advance purchase discount fare tickets for Cinque Terre-Venice and Venice-Rome. If you can't get discount fare tickets for your travel dates, then France-Italy passes probably would work well for you. If you send me a PM giving me your travel dates and which village you'll be going to in the CT, I'll find out what discount fare tickets are still available (if any) and I'll crunch the numbers for you.