My boyfriend and I are going to Germany/ Switzerland for 2 weeks in September. We will spend a couple of days in the following cities (in order): Frankfurt, Rothenburg, Munich, Lucerne, somewhere in the Black Forrest and then back to Frankfurt. A 5 day rail pass is $400. Is it worth it or would we be better off taking local buses/ trains?

I would check the point-to-point ticket prices and decide from there if the convenience of a pass is worthwhile.

I think you should price out what the train travel would be without the pass first. I know when we were thinking about buying the rail pass it was $600 but our first overnight trip from Paris to Munich was $750 so it was in our best interest to get the pass. We also were able to use it locally inside the cities as well. Quite honestly, it was the best decision we made when traveling Europe and I highly recommend it!

It doesn't matter if we take the high speed train, we just want something affordable. I'm not sure where to go to check individual ticket prices for trains.

http://www.bahn.com/i/view/DEU/en/index.shtml

local trains and second class are cheaper than express trains and first class.

Try www.bahn.de for the german rail site (Deutsches Bundes Bahn), click on the little flag to select english. You can find schedules and fares. (The Frankfort Airport, assuming that's where you'r arriving/departing, is Frankfort Flughaven. In other cases you'll probably want to choose Bahnhoff (central station) for the city in question.)

If the pass works for 5 contiguious days you'd need 3 passes to cover your 14-day drip. And double-check that the pass covers Lucern (is it a german rail pass or a eurorail pass?), since that is in another country.

I would be surprised if the pass is cost-effective for this trip, since its a combination of short trips with maybe one long trip back and forth to Lucern.

It's $400 per person for a 5 day German/ Swiss pass. We've never traveled in Europe so we're clueless.

bahn.de will give you prices for the German portions. It does convert to english

For example Frankfurt to Rothenburg is 42 euro for a standard fare.

Rothenburg to Munich is either 45 or 60 euro depending on which trains you take.

It looks like Munich to Lucerne is 85 euro. Lucerne to Frankfurt is 95 euro.

A Germany/Switzerland Eurail pass valid for 5 days travel in 2 months would be $338 for those 25 and under or 480 for 26+. If you are under 26 is looks like you could save about $40 with a railpass. If you are 26+ it does not appear to be a good deal.

We don't have a set schedule so I'm nervous to purchase tickets now in case we decide to spend more time in one city than planned. Does anyone know if the fares change a lot or if the tickets will sell out?

nsmuther:
More detail please.
Are you both over or under 26 yo?
If you will be travelling together (not taking independent trips), you would qualify for a Twinpass (Two adults travelling together). Second class is definitely cheaper than 1st class and gets you there at the same time ;-).
Sample cost of GERMAN railpasses:
1st class, ANY 3 days in one month, individual $534 per person. (NOT contiguous days).
1st classs, ANY 5 days within one month, individual $622 per month.
2nd class TWINPASS, ANY 3 days in one month = $389 total(includes both persons).
2nd class TWINPASS, any 5 days in one month = $453 total(price includes both persons).
After plugging in yout trips at www.bahn, figure out the most expensive fares and least expensive fares.
Take any cheaper travel days and pay for tickets point to point on those days (don't use a precious travel day on the twinpass--use those allotted days for expensive trips).
With regard to Lucerne, this is crossing over the borser to Switzerland, so you will have to purchase a ticket from the last border town in Germany and on to Lucerne (above and beyond what the German railpass covers).
Or maybe you were just looking at the Eurailpass for this trip?

We were thinking of purchasing a 5 day twin Swiss/ German pass which would cost $400 (only first class available).

Ticket prices are generally fixed at least for months at a time, but I would NOT purchase point-to-point tickets this far in advance as they would generally be inflexible (fixed date of travel). This is where a railpass lends spontaneity.
Tickets of normal price generally do not "sell out," but for fast/intercity trains, they may become fully booked especially at times of heavy travel (ie: I see you are heading to Munich at or around the time of Oktoberfest, so SOME of these trains may be pretty jammed). However, each of your travel legs is likely to have several other train travel options in each day.
Generally only Sparangebote (or special sale fares) sell out.

The fairs I gave you are the fairs that would would pay for 2nd class if you go and purchase tickets at the counter/machine in Germany right before you leave a location.

You can save by booking tickets in advance for a certain train, we do not do that though as we like the option to leave whenever we want.

While in Germany we never experienced a sold out train.

When you look up fares on dbahn.de, you will see regular fares and saver fares. Regular fares are the price you pay for walk up tickets - buying tickets day of travel. Saver fares are the price you pay if you buy your tickets ahead of time for a particular train. You can save quite a bit of money that way, but of course the trade off is that you have to commit to a particular train.

Sooo...
for the trips that you have noted:
2nd class PtoP Frankfurt Airport-->Rothenburg odT = 46E
2nd cl ptoP Rothenburg ---> Munich HBF = 45-60 E
Munich HBF ---> Luzern 85 E (and 6 HOURS OF TRAVEL, are you sure this is your preferred order?)*** German pass would cover you to the German town of Singen on the border. You would then have to pay from Singen to Luzern at a reduced price of 30 E***
Luzern---> sample town in Black Forest (used Gengenbach) = 54 E
Gengenbach---> Frankfurt Flughafen (airport)--> 50 E For totals of 245 Euro per person or $348 per person for POINT 2 POINT tickets (not purchased in advance). Using www.oanda.com for today's currency convertor rates.
To me, A GERMAN TWINPASS (at $453 for the both of you +30 Euro/approx $45 each for the Luzern part), allotting 5 days of travel) seems your best option, UNLESS you believe you will travel more spontaneously.

I checked with our travel agent and the twin pass would cost us $400 EACH!

If you want fully flexible travel - to be able to hop on any train any time in Germany then the German Railpass for those trips in Germany is an absolute steal - but if you want to book non-chageable non-refundable tickets weeks in advance then it could be a bit cheaper to do that - go to www.bahn.de and see what specials are available for your dates and trains. To me the ability to hop any train anytime is priceless for others it is not - but a regular fare ticket from Munich to say Frankufrt I'd say will cost well over $100 in 2nd class itself.

Great sites for info on trains and passes in those countries - www.budgeteuropetravel.com (call Byron there IME for answer that are accurate and not salesmanish IME of buying railpasses from his agency for years); and www.ricksteves.com and www.seat61.com.

Note there is a Germany-Switzerland Pass but I do not think that would be worth the extra cost if just going to Lucerne from the German border so just price IMO the German Twin Pass, which beyond the first few days extra days cost only about $20 a day p.p. - Twin means you each have your name on one pass - cannot take separate trains though one could travel without the other and the pass would still be valid.

Look at this site and consider a five day pass in 2nd class:

http://www.raileurope.com/rail-ticke...d-pricing.html

It seems that you can get a pass for less than $400. Given your lack of travel experience, the pass might make the most sense.

I checked with our travel agent and the twin pass would cost us $400 EACH!>

Perhaps for the Germany-Switzerland Pass which is way more than the $221 p.p. 5-day German Twin - I got the $221 p.p. from www.budgeteuropetravel.com - I note this because they are usually current but I note that mokka4 gives a slightly higher price - pass prices can and do fluctuate as the dollar vis a vis euro does so maybe mokka4's is more current (or less current?)

But it would well be $221 p.p. or $442 both both together.

Is it worth it or would we be better off taking local buses/ trains?>

not if you want to get anywhere that don't take hours - regional trains runs only between main stations and stop at every tiny hick town and station - they are cheap and you can use the Lander (like our states) Tickets that are really cheap - like all day for two for 29 euros but you can only take regional trains and cannot use the ticket to cross regional borders - so taking regional trains between OP destinations is not practical - but if in say Munich and wishing to go to Mad Ludwig's fantasy castles in Neuschwanstein then yes since that is served mainly by regional trains then instead of using a day on your pass buy the Bavarian Pass - a Lander pass and you can also use the public transport of trams, trains and buses back in Munich and perhaps the local buses that go from Fuessen train station the few miles out to Newschwanstein.