Three of us will be taking a trip to Europe for ten days. We will arrive in Munich for three nights, travel to Zurich for two nights, and then travel to Italy for the remainder of the trip. Rather than getting a Europass - would it be cheaper to purchase one way tickets at each of the train stations when we are there? We would only use the Europass twice. Once from Munich to Zurich and once from Zurich to Milan. From there, we need to take TrenItalia to Cinque Terre and then off to Rome. Please advise.
I doubt seriously if you could make a pass pay with only two trips. But the math. That is the only way to determine.
If you book Munich-Zurich on the German Rail site and Zurich-Milan on the Swiss Rail site well in advance (up to 90 days allowed on either site), you can get a Savings fare as low as 39 EUR for Munich-Zurich and 32 CHF (21 EUR) for Zurich-Milan.
The Trenitalia site does not accept US credit cards so buy your tickets from Milan onward when you get to Italy.