How far in advance should we buy tickets to go from heilbronn germany to rome italy, we will be traveling on sept 2008
Not too far in advance. You might consider flying because it will be a quite long train ride. Looks like Germanwings flies from Stuttgart to Rome for a base fare of 50-70 euros per person including taxes.
In addition to Germanwings also have a look at Ryanair.com who fly to Rome Ciampino from Karlsruhe-Baden Baden, which also is not too far from Heilbronn. And have a look at airberlin.com as they might offer that service from Nuremberg airport, which also is within a 60 minutes drive radius of Heilbronn.
My husband Gus and I made plans to ride the train because that is what we did 42 years ago while stationed in Heilbronn durind our honeymoon in Rome, we want to relive our youth going back, we will be riding the train during the day to enjoy the scenery in Germany and Italy, our travel agent will buy the train tickets in advance for make sure we have a reservation for the long train ride.
It is a good idea to buy the tickets from Munich to Italy in advance because
1) that is a popular route, particularly the night trains, and could sell out early
2) you can get the best fares by purchasing in advance.
However, I doubt that your travel agent can get the lowest fares, those that are only sold online through German Rail.
If you are taking the night train to Italy, get your reservations now!