any advice or opinions would be appreciated.

What are you planning to see in Germany?

If you stay in the Black Forest, be sure to stay somewhere that is in the KONUS system so your train and bus rides are included.

For some of your trips, there might be another, local pass that is less. A good search of this forum will get that info.

We visited the places you mentioned using the Quer-durchs-Land-Ticket, and Länder-Tickets. An especially good deal with several travellers - in our case 4.

Actually, my original plan was to go to Provence, but it seems a bit out of the way. Reading about Rhine cruise on K-D and stopping off at couple of nice towns made me change my mind, hence, my reason for going 'east' into Frankfurt instead.
I also would like to see Wurzburg and Rothenburg, then head south toward Italy, and
stopping at Black Forest area seemed logical.

I need to do all this by train as I'm not brave enough to drive.

Bigtyke, which town would you recommend for the Black Forest area and to get KONUS pass?

Thanks.

"I'm travelling to Frankfurt to do a Rhine cruise..." "Reading about Rhine cruise on K-D and stopping off at couple of nice towns made me change my mind, hence, my reason for going 'east' into Frankfurt instead."

Just to clarify - Frankfurt isn't on the Rhine; it's well east of the Middle Rhine Valley, about an hour + by train southeast of Bingen, the spot where most visitors board the Rhine cruise to see the most scenic part. From Amsterdam (which I think is your previous destination) you do not need to go to Frankfurt first.

You'll probably want to spend at least 2 nights on the Rhine. There are some good castles to visit (Rheinfels in St. Goar, Marksburg in Braubach) in addition to the cruise and the nice villages (Bacharach, Oberwesel, Boppard.)

You'll need 2 nights for W'burg and R'burg, and at least 2 nights in the Black Forest.

If you are also planning to see Frankfurt itself, I don't think you'll have time for it all.

For the BF: Gengenbach (near Offenburg) is a great little KONUS town - old town walls and towers, half-timbered buildings, etc. - with an ideal location for venturing to BF villages along the Black Forest Railway:

http://www.stadt-gengenbach.de/en/tourism/

http://www.black-forest-travel.com/places-of-interest/black-forest-railway.html

Trains on the BF railway are double-deckers - great for sightseeing:

http://www.bensbauernhof.com/russschwarzwaldbahn.jpg

When you depart G'bach for Italy, you can use the regional trains to reach Basel SBB station with the KONUS card if you wish.

Thank you, Russ, for taking the time to reply. Just to clarify, I am flying in to Amsterdam, stopping at Brugges, then over to Germany (instead of Provence, France) on the way to Italy.

I can adjust my days in Germany if it's worthwhile. I like the idea of staying at one of the Rhine towns for 2 days (instead of Frankfurt), 2 days in W'burg, 2 in R'burg and 2 in BF.

A question though: are the Rhine towns similar to W'burg and R'burg? If they are, I could eliminate W'burg or R'burg.

With my schedule, is it indeed better to use the regional trains (Lander ticket etc) instead of the German Twin Rail Pass that's on special?

Through Basel to Italy, which train system should I check, Swiss or Trenitalia? I have researched Munich to Verona (to Cinque Terre)

Appreciate your assistance.