Not sure if I should buy a railpass

I guess the first question is where did you check out the point to point ticket prices? If it was at RailEurope, then that may explain why the comparisions are so close...point to point tickets are far cheaper when purchased via the internet from the national railway companies, or bought on location a couple of days before your trip. The second question would be...did you include extra costs of a rail pass? High speed trains like Eurostar, TGV, ICE, and the like all require passholders to pay supplemental and/or reservation fees. You can make these reservations at RailEurope (expensive) or at some of the national rail sites. But the reservations allotted to passholders are very limited.

Well, as you figured out, a rail pass does not help you much with the Eurostar. If you did the math on the rest, the only thing I would question is if you included any "Add-Ons" to the pass? Specifically, Paris- Rothenburg, Munich-Vienna, and Vienna-Prague, all may be served by fast trains. Paris to Rothenberg (at least all the way to Frankfurt) could use the TGV and ICE, which will certainly require a small reservation fee added on, and may require an "Upgrade" fee in order to use the pass (I didn't dig into it very far). Of course you could patch together regional trains to get there and pay no fees, but much slower. If added no fees, then point to point will likely be your best option.

Thanks for the quick responses!

I did look on the rail europe website to come up with the point-to-point prices. I did not look at any reservation or add-on fees for the rail pass. I guess that is the main reason I was getting confused. So if a rail pass by itself is the same cost as the point-to-point tickets, then the tickets are the better option because no extra fees or costs. When I did the math it was less than a 20 dollar difference. Therefore it looks like my best bet is to buy the point-to-point tickets.

I will be in each city a minimum of 3 days, so it sounds like I should buy the departure ticket when I arrive in the city, so they won't be sold out.

I'll emphasize what Norm said about questioning WHERE you found point-to-point fares by giving you some examples.

Booked up to 90 days in advance at sncf.com, you can get PREM'S fares for Paris-Stuttgart TGVs (enroute to Rothenburg) for €30. The regular fare is €102.

Booked well in advance at http://buchung.nachtzugreise.de, you can get SparNight fares on the Paris-Stuttgart night train for €29 (reclining seat), €39 (bunk in a six-person couchette), and €49 (bunk in a four-person couchette). The correspondinng regular fares are €85, €95, and €99.

A cheap Bayern ticket will get you from Rothenburg to Munich.

You can get SparNight fares on the Munich-Vienna night train. Or you can book Europa-Spezial fares as low as €29 on a daytime EC train at www.bahn.de. The regular fare is €72.

One more thing. Book well in advance (up to four months) at eurostar.com to get the cheapest London-Paris fare.

As Tim noted, there are bargains to be had by using the Internet sites he's listed for the French and German railway companies. For Vienna-Prague, you can get tickets as low as 19 Euro, but to book in advance, you have to spend a few minutes on the phone with them...still, not a bad option for 19 Euro! Check http://www.oebb.at/vip8/oebb/en. Remember, too, that many of these bargain fares have limited or no options for changes or refunds, so make sure your travel dates are secure.

Kelly,

You might try entering each leg of your rail journeys into www.railsaver.com. The web site will suggest the best Railpass option and indicate which legs would be better done with P-P tickets.

Regarding your trip on the EuroStar, be sure to enter that too, as Railpass holders receive a discount on the EuroStar fare.

Be sure to note which routes require mandatory reservations, as the extra cost of these (when used with a Railpass) will affect your overall cost. It's easy to buy the reservations in Europe.

Your trip from Paris to Rothenburg is probably best by TGV, so a reservation will be required. Depending on which route you choose, if your train goes through Frankfurt, you'll probably have to change in Wurzburg and Steinach (the route from Steinach to Rothenburg is a smaller "spur" line).

Check the times and length of each of your rail trips at www.bahn.de as the information is easier to access than at RailEurope.

Cheers!