Rail pass vs point to point

If you buy point to point tickets any mandatory fees are included. The Salzburg to Interlaken (sure you don't want to be in the mountains not half an hour away on the flat?) will be a long ride.

not sure what you mean about being a half hour away...can you explain. sorry! first time europe traveler here!

my other questions is for trains like trenitalia, the "supereconomy" fare, i understand it is nonrefundable and unchangeable....my question is, it says there are limited allocations of this kind of seat....but once I buy it, I have a seat, right?

Correct, once you purchase it is yours. The super are non-refund and non-change. There are very few of those fares on each train so you need to grab it when you see.

Muenchen-Fuessen: Buy a Bayern-Ticket at the station in Munich (€22 for the first person and €4 for each additional person up to a total of five persons traveling together. Depart after 09:00 and travel all day anywhere in Bavaria so long as you limit yourself to regional trains. The ticket will also be good on the U-Bahn, S-Bahn, and bus system in Munich on the day you use it. Muenchen-Salzburg: Buy a Bayern-Ticket at the station in Munich. Salzburg-Interlaken: If you book today on the Austrian Rail site, you still can get a discount fare of €49 for Salzburg-Zuerich-Bern-Interlaken Ost on 17 August, departing at 08:02 and arriving at 15:28. Interlaken Ost-Venezia Santa Lucia: Book tickets on the Swiss Rail site. The 2nd class fare for Interlaken Ost-Spiez-Brig-Venezia Santa Lucia, departing at 08:00 and arriving at 14:40, is CHF 120. Discount fare tickets are gone. Venezia Santa Lucia-Firenze S. M. Novella: €19 Super Economy fare tickets still are available for several departure times on high-speed trains on 21 August. Book ASAP on trenitalia.com. Discount fare tickets are for a specific departure date and time and are non-exchangeable and non-refundable. Seat reservations are required, come with the ticket, and are included in the fare.

The half an hour reference is that Interlaken is not in the mountains. It is close, but not there. It is actually about 20 minutes by train from Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen where you are surrounded by mountains and waterfalls, and just a few minutes more up the cable car and panorama train into the small village of Muerren where you breathe in and say, OH MY!!! Its like going to Cincinnati to see the Bluegrass country. You're close but you're not there.

Nigel, this is funny. 1. We are going and staying in murren, but knew Intel interlaken was the hub. Originally when I was looking at rail passes I think you had to buy the tickets on the smaller trains and cable cars separately.
2. I actually live in Kentucky, home of the blue grass, but Cincinnati is the closest big town!

With reference to Munich-Fussen, is the purpose to see the castles? If you purchase the Bayern ticket, you cannot leave before 9 am. So, just be aware that it will be very crowded at the castles by the time you get there. When I did this trip, I took the train at 4:48 from Munich, and arrived around 6:55 with one transfer.

Yes the purpose is to see the castles. We are pretty much devoting that whole day to it though, so I am in no rush to get back to Munich. We will likely eat dinner in Fussen. How long would you say it takes to tour both castles and St Mary's Bridge?

Hi Erin, I just went to Fussen two weeks ago. We took a very early train and then had breakfast after arriving. There's a short bus ride from the train station to the ticket center (think it's bus 73, but don't hold me to that). If you want to see both castles, they give you timed entrance ticket for Hohenschwangau first, and Neuschwanstein second. The entry times we got were roughly 8:45 and 10:30 (we were at the ticket center when it opened at 8 am). We had time to kill after the tour of Hohenschwangau, but I think they like to allow extra time, so that tourists can linger in the gift shop and make the long walk up the hill to Neuschwanstein. The tour only lasted about 35 minutes, and it felt like a real production line. The hike to Mary's Bridge took about 15 min, although you can hike well beyond there to a neighboring peak, if you so choose. I was back at the train station by about 12:30. So, it took about 4 1/2 hours to see both castles and the bridge, but you could definitely spend more time there. I had an evening activity planned in Munich which is why I headed back early.

"If you purchase the Bayern ticket, you cannot leave before 9 am" A common misconception, but not true. You can leave any time, you just cannot use the Bayern-Ticket before 9 AM! If you leave the Hbf at 8:52 and buy an MVV ticket to Geltendorf (7,50€/P), the Munich metro station you leave at 9:21, you can use the Bayern-Ticket from there, after 9 AM, and get to Hohenschwangau at 11:13. Total cost of MVV and Bayern tickets, 41€, still less than point-point Bahn tickets and not much more than fuel alone (not counting a day's rental) for a car. You could also purchase 16,90€ Bahn tickets to Kaufbeuren and leave on the 7:52 train, which leaves Kaufbeuren at 9:00, so you could use the Bayern-Ticket from there. Since the train connection is pretty reliable, compared to a car, where you could get lost, caught in a traffic jam, etc, you can safely make tour reservations on www. hohenschwangau.com.

I don't think Eurail is ever a good choice if you know your itinerary in advance.

i ended up buying individual tickets, savedalot of money! to be put to good use doing something else fun!

I think rail passes are highly over-rated, especially if you have a very specific itinerary. Years ago (in the 1970s) when they were much cheaper, rail passes made more sense, but not now. Sounds like a great trip.