First time in Europe--Train travel

With the limited train trips, I doubt if a pass would save money but you should compare p2p tickets to the pass price. The Eurostar between London and Paris is expensive so prepurchasing a ticket asap for discount is important. Buy the tickets through the local country train web site. You can use bahn.de for scheduling information but only purchase ticket that begin or end in Germany on that site.

To look at prices and book tickets: London to Paris: http://www.eurostar.com Paris to Interlaken: http://www.tgv-europe.com. Choose Great Britain as your country and France as your ticket collection country. Do not allow yourself to be redirected to Rail Europe. Interlaken to Rome: http://www.rail.ch
Rome to Venice: http://www.trenitalia.com/ To look at schedules for all of Europe, you can use either the Swiss site or German rail (Bahn) at http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en. However, the Bahn site will not have prices for your trips. September tickets are probably not available yet for your routes, so look at tomorrow (to get the highest possible price) and 2-3 months out (to see the discounts). You want to get comfortable with the sites now, and register for Trenitalia, so you're ready to pounce when the tickets are released, and can get the best prices. These tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable - that's why they're so much cheaper. Even with a pass, you will have a huge supplement on the Eurostar, a relatively high supplement on Paris to Interlake, and €10 supplement on Rome to Venice (and, I believe the Italian portion of Interlaken to Rome as well). Quantities of tickets valid with passes are limited on the Eurostar and TGV trains (Paris to Interlaken). This means that even with a valid pass, you have to prebook a ticket; this just negates the purported advantage of a pass offering spontaneous travel. Furthermore, most passes are no longer valid in France. Here's a must-read summary of the subject: http://tinyurl.com/ck2kjqa

Tanya, you don't need a pass. You are not traveling enough in each country to justify the cost of one. Please note that the earlier you book the Eurostar train from London to Paris, the cheaper the fares. Note also that you have to be checked in 30 minutes before the train departs.

The posters above have given excellent advice. Forget the pass, you won't get good value for your money. Book point to point and three months in advance( which is the earliest you can book for most trains anyway. As mentioned, get familiar with the train company sites now, and be ready to book 90 days out from the day of travel, and you'll save a ton of money. The only limitation being that you're limited to a specific train on a specific day, but it's worth it for the savings. My last trip, Sept 2012, I booked all travel 90 days in advance..London to Paris on Eurostar, Paris to Interlaken through the French rail site, Basel to Edinburgh on easyJet(flight), and Edinburgh to London through National Rail..total cost?...$300 Canadian..can' beat that
Another great resource for learning about train travel in Europe is The Man in Seat Sixty One (www.seat61.com )... that's where I learned a LOT...

As always, consult www.seat61.com for train strategies.
By the way, my Windsor is not Glen's but we both can thank the Royal Family's favourite residence for the number of Windsors in Canada.

Thanks everyone! I have been checking out the timetables and pricing a few months from now to get an idea. We have decided to cut out Switzerland from our trip, but now am trying to determine if going from Paris to Venice or Rome is better...any advice on the night trains or is it better to look into a cheap flight? It seems like there is a nonstop train from Paris to Venice that gets you there earlier than the one to Rome, but maybe I am wrong?

Tanya, the day trains from Paris to Venice will take 11.0-12.0hrs depending on the run. Fares that I see right now on www.tgv-europe.com range from 111Euro-192Euro on June 1. The night train is the Thello train (www.thello.com). Fares for early June show 100E for space in a 6-couchette compartment to 180Euro for a cabin with 2 beds. 11.0hrs travel time. However, Thello has a 35Euro going right now. I can see the 35Euro fare for the 6-couchette compartment for June 5. Not sure they will be around in September. The least expensive way to go is to fly from Paris-CDG to Venice-Marco Polo. You will need to book way out to get the cheap fares. I see 58Euro fares in mid-August. For July, they are over 100Euro. Book early. Also, this is a budget airline. Carefully read and understand their travel conditions - especially their luggage weight and size limitations. Also, their carry-on limitations.