Rail Passes

Rail pass a no go London-Paris, Paris-Amsterdam the res fee is so high you can just about buy your own ticket for same money if you are looking at taking the fast Thalys train. You'll save a bundle if you can commit to certain travel dates and buy advance tickets, especially in Italy. I don't even know if it is worth the exercise of doing the math.

In Germany, you can get advance (2-93 days) purchase discount ticket for express trains starting at 29€ for one person, 49€ for two, anywhere in Germany. If you are willing to take regional trains, all day passes for travel within Bavaria cost 22€ for one person, 26€ for two. Travel across Land (state) borders costs 42€ on weekend with a Schönes-Wochenende-Ticket (up to five people), or, on weekday, 50€ for 2 people with a Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket.

OK, I said I wasn't worth going through the exercise, but I could not help it.
$410 US for the entire itinerary purchased in advance. A youth 2nd class 8 day in 2 month 4 country select pass is $464 and it does not include London-Paris or Paris-Amsterdam or mandatory reservation fees.

The Man In Seat 61 has a great, readable answer to your question: http://tinyurl.com/bkw4u6c If you want to investigate the prices Sam was talking about, here's a list of where to start looking: http://tinyurl.com/bo8x6o6

Joe, I don't think the Eurostar between London and Paris will accept your Eurail pass. I know it's not good anywhere in Great Britain. Second, the Thalys train between Paris and Amsterdam has some of the highest supplemental fees for Eurail passholders in Europe. You can actually buy a discounted ticket on Thalys for less money than the supplemental fee. You get your seat reservations when you pay the supplemental fee. Secondly, Thalys limits their seats to passholders. If the train you want has no more seats for passholders, you either pay full fare to ride or you wait for a later train where passholder seats are available. Next, Eurail wants you to have a pass where the countries share a border. You can easily go through a country for which you do not have a pass but you will pay extra to do it. For Italy, you just don't need a railpass. First, you will pay a 10Euro supplemental fee for each fast train that you will be on. I see 2-4 depending if or if not you are getting off at Florence and Rome. Again, you don't get seat reservations until you pay the supplemental fees. Second, if you plan ahead and can be certain of your travel times, you can get non-refundable tickets for your Italy destinations for 19Euro per run. Regular full fare would be 133Euro for Venice/Florence, Florence/Rome and Rome/Naples. So why do you need a pass for Italy?

Amsterdam>Rottenburg(sp?)via Frankfurt)>Fusen>Lucerne Your plan calls out for revision. Neither Rothenburg nor Füssen will require more than a day or two of sightseeing time. If you were just heading directly to Lucerne, the trip is only 8 hours with 1-2 changes of train. But with your plan, it's... 7+ hours to reach Rothenburg (with 3 changes of train) 5 hours to reach Füssen (w/ 3-4 changes) 6+ hours to reach Lucerne (w/4-5 changes) So the first question is... Are these super-touristy and overcrowded German destinations really worth that much time, hassle, and money? My answer is an unequivocal NOOOOOO! I suggest you stop elsewhere in Germany for a couple of days and see some interesting places (places without the horde of tourists and the fleet of tour buses) instead. Castles (real ones, not fakes like Neuschwanstein) and old world villages similar to Rothenburg with town walls, towers, half-timbered buildings, etc. can be found in the Rhine/Mosel area, near Heidelberg, and in the Black Forest region along your route to Luzern: Oberwesel and neighbor Bacharach (Rhine Valley south of Koblenz) Cochem (Mosel Valley west of Koblenz) Burg Eltz castle (near Cochem) Reichsburg Castle (in Cochem) Marksburg Castle (in Braubach 10 min. south of Koblenz) Heidelberg Castle Guttenberg Castle (east of Heidelberg along the Neckar River)
Gengenbach (about 7 minutes east of Offenburg, which lies on your train line south to Luzern.)

Some links to a few places in my post above: BURG ELTZ REICHSBURG Virtual tour of GENGENBACH

Now if Rothenburg and Neuschwanstein are on the list, there is no reason to take them off. Rothenburg is actually a very relaxing place after the tour busses peel out at the end of the day. I'd go back.
Neuschwanstein is a bit of a one trick pony, but it is hard to pass up a sight that is plastered on virtually every German travel poster. It is a fascinating bit of late 19th century ueber Romanticism. Read up on the Ludwig-Wagner connection to make sense of all the wall paintings.

Sam writes, "...it is hard to pass up a sight that is plastered on virtually every German travel poster. It is a fascinating bit of late 19th century ueber Romanticism. Read up on the Ludwig-Wagner connection to make sense of all the wall paintings." Hmm. If you were headed into Austria, Joe, Füssen wouldn't be a huge detour. Or if you had majored in Ludwig-Wagner Romanticism, I could maybe see the attraction of a very lengthy and pricey detour from your trip to Lucerne for the 30-minute tour of N'stein and a quick glimpse of the Tristan and Isolde mural in Ludwig's bedroom. But with your itinerary, Joe, if you're like most folks (with a mostly minor interest in Ludwig and Wagner) you may wish to give it a skip; buy a N'stein poster, enjoy a small version of the mural HERE, and have a walk through some real 700-800+-year-old castles instead. (Don't take my word for it. Burg Eltz is Rick Steves' favorite castle in all of Europe. Read his comments HERE.)

" Or if you had majored in Ludwig-Wagner Romanticism, I could maybe see the attraction of a very lengthy and pricey detour from your trip to Lucerne for the 30-minute tour of N'stein and a quick glimpse of the Tristan and Isolde mural in Ludwig's bedroom. But with your itinerary, Joe, if you're like most folks (with a mostly minor interest in Ludwig and Wagner) you may wish to give it a skip;" Well hell, I only have a minor interest in Greco-Roman mythology. I guess then I should have no reason to visit any of those Baroque and Neoclassical era palaces with all their stylized wall paintings of scenes from ancient legends. And they're not even AUTHENTIC Roman palaces, just buidlings constructed centuries later in an imitation style. PS- It goes far beyond just a painting of Tristan and Isolde. The entire buidling is based on a motif from Lohengrin, the entry gallery has a Niebelungenlied theme, the grotto comes out of Tännhäuser, and the theater shows influences from Die Meistersingers van Nürnberg and Lohengrin. Come on, how crazy is that? It would be like if Obama re-decorated the White House in a Star Wars theme.

The White House as Star Wars theme! Cool, I might sign up for a tour then. The old "Blue Room" and "Red Room" were so boring. My point is: Its the OP's vacation and dream (and money) and they are looking for advice on how to best make it happen. Not that their dream isn't my dream. If someone wants to see 12 European capitals in 10 days, go for it! After we're done rolling our eyes and doing spit takes, tell 'em how to do it as efficiently as can be done. There. I've just violated at least 2 "community guidelines". Posting more that twice on the same topic, and replying off topic to other posters.

It's my experience that N'stein ends up on most people's must-see list not because of Ludwig or Lohengrin or the Nibelungen (N-i-b) all of which most folks have likely never even heard of (even if you and I may have,) much less developed some personal connection to, or associated with N'stein. People choose N'stein because it's on someone else's must-see list, or because of the irresistible travel posters that Sam first mentioned, or because they've heard it's the original "Disney castle" or "Cinderella's castle" (the normal reference folks use when they can't remember "Neuschwanstein.") Nobody calls it the Lohengrin Castle. Unless they already understand and are interested in that part of history, I don't think the 30-minute tour is worth the trouble that would have to be undertaken given this itinerary, for most folks anyway. But now that we've all shared some facts and opinions on the place, I'm sure Joe can sort out his feelings about Wagner and Walt Disney, and how relatively interesting or dull the place might be for him, whether N'stein is his dream or not, and whether or not he should spend 18 train hours between A'dam and Luzern, or keep it closer to 8.

Or maybe people just want to see it because it's a neat looking castle in a stunning setting?

thanks to everyone for replying. This is all AWESOME information and gives me much better info to make decisions on. I don't mind the side commentary at all. We are mixing fast paced days with a relaxed bunch as well (like the Germany segment. We are not necessarily married to anything but the travel times impacts so many decisions. If you think of anything else please don't hesitate to bleed on this and roll your eyes but if you roll your eyes, please tell me what may be a waste of time and if you have better suggestions.
JB