Is a rail pass worth the $

A Germany-Switzerland Saver pass is $400 per person, or $800. I'm sure you can do better than that. Frankfurt to Rothenburg can be done for €43,60 using local RMV tickets to Kahl am Main (1st station in Bavaria) and a Bayern-Ticket. This is using regional trains in 2nd class, but Wuerzburg to Rothenburg is only by regional trains anyway. Rothenburg to Munich can be done with just a €29 Bayern-Ticket. It might be too late to get the best fares, but Munich to Luzern and Luzern to anywhere in Germany can be done with advance purchase discount Europa-Spezial tickets for as low as €39 per person each leg. Anywhere in Germany (Black Forest) to anywhere else in Germany (Frankfurt) can be done with an advance purchase Sparpreis ticket for as low as €49 for both of you. You should purchase the discounted tickets as soon as possible to get the best price, but you need to figure out where "somewhere in the Black Forest" is. Advance purchase tickets are available from the German Rail website.

Thanks, Lee. This is our first time traveling in Europe so we're clueless. Any idea where we can purchase these tickets? Also, are they flexible? We don't want to lock ourselves in as we know we will likely end up spending more time in some cities than planned.

I just noticed the website, thanks.

First, rail passes are not the no-brainer decision they were twenty years ago. Have to do the homework. Easy to check out. A five day pass is $80/day. Check your five days of rail travel for p2p tickets. If each ticket is more than $80 dollars then the pass will be worth. Be sure to include the seat reservation charge or premium train charge that is NOT included with the pass if required for that train. Also a rail pass may not give the flexibility you think. If a train requires a seat reservation then you need to make that reservation. However, many of the Germany and Swiss trains are a mix of reserved and non-reserved.

Nancy, Since this is your first trip to Europe, I'd highly recommend reading Europe Through The Back Door prior to departure. It provides a LOT of good information on "how" to travel well in Europe. There's a "Rail Skills" chapter in the book so that may help to answer some of your questions. You could also download the free PDF Rail Guide from this website. Click on the "Railpasses" link at the top of this page, and then look in the lower right corner for "Rick's Rail Guide". Note that at least some of your rail trips may require compulsory reservations, and those are NOT covered by the Railpass. You'd have to pay "out of pocket" for the reservations. Happy travels!