At this point, the dates of travel I am looking at are:

Sept 10th from NYC to Nice (any NY airport)
Sept 20th from Nice to Munich
Sept 25th from Munich to NYC

If I can find a flight which is "reasonable" and not too crazy in terms of connections, I will book this (even though I know it will be a bit inconvenient, but to me, I like the idea of seeing a couple of places while over there - this will give me 9-10 full days in France, and 4 solid days in the Munich area with 1 day for travel)

Gosh, I thought I was a relatively experienced traveller and I don't know why it is so difficult for me to figure this out :-)

Because people are not being clear. The point is, if you try to book, NYC to Nice to Munich to NYC all together, you will pay the higher price, because the discount airlines don't participate.

1. First, Book NYC to Nice / Munich to NYC (the open jaw part), using the Multiple Cities button at your favorite website.

2. Then separately, go to the discount airline site (mentioned above), and book the one-way part in the middle. Or else book a one-way train trip for this part.

Thanks :-) I got it now!! This is close to what I was doing, but I just kept adding the Nice to Munich part in and that is adding overhead.

So...Looks like the grand total for the flights that work the best is $964/pp with a bit more hassle connecting through Paris to and from with Air France (if I stuck with just France, it's $675/pp round trip direct). The flights aren't awful for connecting flights, but of course, it's always nice to get direct flights.

I now need to determine if it's worth the tradeoff!

My itinerary would lay out this way:
9 full days in South of France (Cote d'Azur and Provence)
1 travel day
4 full days in Munich area (Oktoberfest, Munich sight seeing, Nuschwanstein castle and probably a day trip to another small town)

Flights:
NY 4:30PM - arrive Nice 9AM (1 hr 25 layover in Paris in btwn)
Nice to Munich - 12:25PM - 5PM (direct flight)
Munich 12:55PM - arrive NY 7PM (2 hr layover in Paris)

Hope my layovers are long enough to ensure I make my connecting flights...I always worry about that.

Thanks to all for the advice! As mentioned, now I need to determine if it's worth the connection hassle and extra $$ to add Germany to the France trip. If you have an opinion, feel free to weigh in...

Well, I don't want to be a spoil sport but have you checked hotel prices in Munich during Oktoberfest yet?
You will hardly find a hotel in town for less than $200.
And since only a bit of your planned itinerary will require a stay IN Munich, you could still look for alternatives.

One example:
9 days in South of France
At the end of the last day in Nice take night train to Strasbourg (dep 8pm, arr 8am). (no travel day lost, IF you can sleep on a train)
Breakfast in Strasbourg, and a walk through the Old Town. Take train to nearby Offenburg in Germany (less than 30min), or Kehl (just across the bridge).
Rent car for 2-4 days (one-way to Munich AP w/o surcharge)
Tour through Black Forest, via Lake Constance, to Neuschwanstein (not necessarily in one day).
Stay last two nights near Munich (and pay much less for hotel) and use public transport for city sightseeing and Oktoberfest (possibly drop off car already after 2 days).

If doing France and Germany by train then consider the France-Germany Eurailpass - much cheaper than the traditional Global Eurailpass - in Germany can hop on and off any train anytime - for tons on trains in these countries i always recommend these fine info-packed sites: www.ricksteves.com; www.seat61.com; http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id9.html - on the latter home page find a link to the English schedule page of www.bahn.de, or the German railways which i find is the easiest for me to use for train schedules all over Europe - and it gives prices for trains in Germany and those in France that go or come from Germany so you can judge whether the pass is good or not. The bahn.de also offers deep discounts on longer train rides but then it is train specific and non-changeable i believe - a value of a pass in Germany is just to hop on any of the zillions of trains running twice hourly or so between all key cities. Try www.voages-sncf.com for the same in France (SNCF is the name of the French Railways)

"Well, I don't want to be a spoil sport but have you checked hotel prices in Munich during Oktoberfest yet?
You will hardly find a hotel in town for less than $200.
And since only a bit of your planned itinerary will require a stay IN Munich, you could still look for alternatives."

Good advice Cowboy. But alldaytravel isn't interested. She's concerned about flight prices but not room prices? and wants scenic villages, but she's headed for Munich? Go figure.

Why not visit Alsace instead of Munich?

Strasbourg, Colmar, dozens of smaller medieval villages, nestled in vineyards, lovely atmosphere and landscapes....

The TGV goes to Strasbourg.

I've stayed in Garmishc-P and day tripped into Munich for Oktoberfest and inexpensive but neat guesthouses abound in Garmishc, bout an hour from Munich by train - Oktoberfest grounds are quite near the train station in Munich.

You can go right to Trier by train - probably with at least one change from Munich if not 2 - but in Germany that is just from one platform to another and easily done - it would take several hours however and though Trier is extremely interesting, with a passel of unique and tremendously historic sights, one of Germany's cuter towns it ain't.