Global Euro Pass worth it with this itinerary?

You can easily check point-to-point prices on the SNCF website. If all your travel dates are not available, use the same day of the week for the latest week available.

I checked Arles-Nice. That trip is 47.30 euros on a TER (regional train). Those tickets never change in price and don't need to be purchased in advance, so you can retain total flexibility for that leg of the trip. You could cover part of the leg on a faster train, but you won't save any time and the cost will be higher if you don't commit to a specific date and time well in advance of the trip. Incidentally, if you buy a rail pass and choose a routing that includes a faster train, you may be required to have a seat reservation, which you'd have to pay for, over and above the cost of a rail pass. The ticket prices on the SNCF website include seat-reservation fees when they are mandatory.

The round-trip from Paris to Chartres is 31 euros. Again, a regional train with no advantage to advance booking. The two shorter trips total about $100.

The rail pass is $299 with the current discount (note that discounted rail passes cannot be refunded). So the question is how the costs of the two long legs, Barcelona-Paris and Paris-Arles, compare to the remaining $199 of rail-pass cost plus the reservation fees you'll have to pay on those long trips if you use a rail pass.

The international reservation fee Paris-Barcelona is at least 34.20 euros, about $39.

The reservation fee for the Paris-Arles train is at least 10 euros, about $11.

So in addition to the cost of the rail pass you'll have an extra $50 in mandatory reservation fees. There is not an unlimited number of reservations available on each train, so you cannot necessarily wait until shortly before your trip to make those bookings.

Check to see what the two long trips will cost if you buy the tickets directly from SNCF. The necessary reservation fees are already included in the prices you see on the SNCF website.

Why go back to Barcelona? And I'd look at flights for the long legs, so a pass is probably not optimal

Thanks so much for your replies. Got an excellent deal if we fly in and out of Barcelona. We love trains and look forward to the down time. Sounds like with care one may iron everything out quite well without acquiring the pass. Appears First Class is worth the extra?

I've found second-class perfectly comfortable.

Now that's a thought, Scythian!

I love trains too.

In my opinion, first class is worth it for that long of a ride.