Rail itinerary and ticketing

FRA->Bacharach: local RMV ticket, €9,70 pP
Change in Mainz

Bacharach->Freiburg i B:
Regional trains, Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket to Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemburg-Ticket to Freiburg, Single €18 + €18 = €36, up to five €26 + €27 = €53.
Express trains, €29 pP w/ Dauer-Spezial (3 day adv purchase).

Freiburg->Basel:
Express to Basel SBB, Europa-Spezial Schweiz, €19 (until sold) P2P €21,30.
Regional, P2P to SBB €13,70. Länder ticket only valid to Basel Bad Bf, €2,80 Basel Bad to Basel SBB.

Whatever you do, don't even think of getting ticket for these connections from ... (cont'd)

Jeff's just kidding around, ticket purchased via Raileurope can typically be over a hundred dollars more than using the national rail sites.

Let's compare Rail Europe tickets with my way.

For FRA to Bacharach:
Least expensive way is a local RMV ticket for regional train, purchased at the close-in Regionalbahnhof at FRA. The price is $15.50 (€9,70), there is one connection per hour. It usually take 1hr 17min to 1hr 27min.

If you take an express train, you have to go to the farther out Fernbahnhof; there is a train every hour, it takes about 1hr 25min and costs $24-$30 depending on whether the FRA to Mainz leg is by IC or ICE. You buy your ticket at the counter in the Fernbahnhof (I've never had to wait) or you can buy it with a credit card and print it out at home before you go.

Or, you can go to raileurope.com. They only show express trains and mostly show one every two hours, not hourly, which there really are. They tend to favor the IC connection which costs $24 from DB, but they charge $45.

Bacharch to Freiburg:
DB shows express connections at 9:31, 10:31, and 11:31. The 10:31 uses an ICE and costs ~$94 (€59). The other two use ECs and cost ~$85 (€53).
RE only shows the 9:31 and 11:31 connection for $123 ($38 more).
As mentioned earlier, with Länder tickets, two people (up to 5 actually) can make that trip (albeit slower) for $85 (€53).

Thanks for the thoughtful responses. I think I have Germany pretty well covered with all this info. On to Switzerland ? and France ?

Im thinking that the 2nd class Swiss Transfer Card w discounts may be my answer there- inbound pretty much to Lauterbrunnen would be covered and the interim discounts would be useful while Im there. Likewise the transfer outbound to Geneva or the border w France. Plus I can get a family card and bring a mouth-breathing ankle biter for free.

France segment is a mystery yet, I want to say P2P but still researching.

Fly home from Paris and save a trip to Frankfurt.