European grand tour by train

MikeJXE

I like the train, a long time since I went on one 

I want to drive and stop when I want, a camper van maybe 

jbrassy

Cairnpapple said:

Your trip sounds great. I don't know if you're familiar with the seat61 website but that would always be my starting point for train travel abroad. The France page has info on rail passes which might be relevant. 
https://www.seat61.com/train-travel-in-france.htm

There are also various specialist travel agencies for rail but that's less moneysaving.

For hotels in Europe I tend to try to find an aparthotel with at least a fridge and a microwave because I'd prefer not to eat out all the time, but your priorities may be different!

Second the Man in Seat 61. One of my favourite websites (along with MSE).

Katiehound

I know you are planning your trip by train but this website may give you some ideas too

Rome2Rio

"Door-to-door travel booking engine Rome2rio lets people enter any address, landmark, or city as a destination to instantly see multimodal journey durations, prices, and booking details from more than 5,000 companies in more than 160 countries."

Emily_Joy

As far as I remember most European train journeys can be booked via Deutsche Bahn (Germain Railways) website - including local trains outside of Germany, furthermore, their discount cards offer some discount outside of Germany too, e.g. we used their card to get a discount for a train journey from Salzburg to Vienna; and OH used one for a journey from Munich to Warsaw. 

martindow

There are a some regional fare bargains to be had if you use local TER trains rather than TGV.

Here is one we used in Normandy recently

https://www.ter.sncf.com/normandie/tarifs-cartes/bons-plans/pass-normandie-decouverte-english_version

The two day fare was less than the fare for a single journey that we took.  There are similar tickets or reduced fares in other regions.

We did find that trains can be quite infrequent even on routes between important towns so it does pay to do some planning.

RAS

Check out the Trains des Dignes route, although currently subject to repairs. Takes you from Nice up into the Alpes Maritime. Avoid the steam trains and it's not expensive. Accommodation is more limited than Nice but generally a lot cheaper.