Give your suggestions to my travel plan

Two points,
AFAIK there is no night train from Cologne to Copenhagen. But you can check at www.bahn.de
Freiburg-im-Breisgau is nice, but so is Colmar. Pity you don't have time for both. There is no rail line from Freiburg to Colmar, it is a local train and a bus:

Amsterdam Centraal depart 20:31, Freiburg(Breisgau) Hbf arrive 05:55
Freiburg(Breisgau) Hbf depart 06:01, Breisach arrive 06:28
Breisach am Rhein Bahnhof depart 06:52 Bus, Colmar (F) Gare, Frankreich arrive 07:43

On the leg from Colmar to Rothenburg you can go Colmar - Strassbourg - Offenburg etc., which is by train. See www.bahn.de for details.
Your route in general is doable, but I am sure others will suggest some pruning.

Thanks Chris, I am not worried too much about route. It can be and will be figured out.
Major worry is that it should not get repetitive.
Which is why I asked if Brugges, Marken, Leiden, Colmar become too similar? And Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Stockholm become too similar?
Any islands you can suggest?

The night trains from Germany to Copenhagen were discontinued in December but there still is one from Malmo to Stockholm. If you have time to stop and see them, then I don't believe that Amsterdam, Copenahagen, and Stockholm are too similar. I would prefer two full days of sightseeing in each, not including side trips. If you don't have to fly home from Stockholm, then it's easy to cut. Or if you don't have more than half a day to allocate to Copenhagen, then skip it and look for a budget flight from Germany to Stockholm; see www.skyscanner.com.

Your conundrum of possibly seeing too many similar places is one reason that Rick's guidebooks are selective, not comprehensive. Limited travel time is another. Colmar, Freiburg, and Rothenburg all make his list, while Heidelberg does not (although it certainly has fans). If you are interested in the history, culture, and architecture of these towns, try to explore one or two well instead of rushing through all four. It's possible that you can make some of these decisions as you travel, but the more you have decided your priorities in advance, the less agonizing it causes later.

Is this trip exactly two weeks? And in what month?

I do not recommend riding in a night train from Malmo to Stockholm. That is a 6 hour train ride. I think being at Copenhagen one morning only, is not a good idea. I suggest : delete Cologne (KOLN) from the travel plan. Ride in a train from Rothenburg to Frankfurt. Fly from Frankfurt to Stockholm.

Thanks for all the replies!
My trip is primarily for German countryside. So I can not spend more than a day in Copenhagen and Stockholm. I do not mind seeing the cities in just a day. Its not compulsory to fly out from Stockholm. I could fly out from Germany itself and I could skip Copenhagen and Stockholm altogether.
I love using the night trains which is why I planned to include Copenhagen and Stockholm which were accessible by night trains. But I now informed that Copenhagen is not accessible by night trains. So may I could go from Berlin to Malmo and visit Copenhagen as day trip. Then take Malmo-Stockholm night train.
From the recommendations I read Colmar, Freiburg and Rotherdam all should be part of the plan. I have two weeks in the month of June/July.

Will places like Brugges, Marken, Leiden, Colmar become too similar?
I have got city life and bit of countryside in the above itinerary, but I can not find any islands of the quality and beauty of cinque terre. Any suggestions for islands on my route?
Cheap Flights within Europe are known to have luggage constraints, charging heavily for it. Any company suggested which doesn't have this luggage issue?

While I really like Copenhagen and Stockholm I have to admit they are fairly alike. The more spectacular is Stockholm - but it also seems to be a little off your track.

If you are interested in German countryside keep in mind that the towns in the South are pretty alike - but quite different from the ones in the North. You could replace Copenhagen and Stockholm with Hamburg which is completely different from all the other German cities yet a bit similar to the Scandinavian ones. Also it's the second largest but most beautiful of all German cities. An hour (by train) South of it is Lüneburg - it's at least as picturesque as Rothenburg ob der Tauber but it's a real town with real people - and it does look completely different than Rotheburg ob der Tauber.

By the way in the greater Hamburg area is also a town called Rothenburg/Wümme - so don't get the two confused.

A beautiful island as an overnight trip from Hamburg would be Sylt or any other of the beautiful North Frisian islands. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Frisian_Islands

The beauty about Hamburg and the entire North is: Only the European tourists have discovered it yet. So far Rick Steve doesn't know about it nor do most other American travelers.

@Andreas, very interesting recommendations.
I saw and read a bit about Hamburg, but having already been to Berlin and Munich on previous trip, and on this trip early on, I would have seen Amsterdam, I am not sure if I would really enjoy Hamburg. How would other northern cities / towns like Bremen, Schwerin or Lubeck turn out? Schwerin and Lubeck seem to have some interesting monuments, some moments where wives can go drooling!
I love your recommendation on Sylt, definitely something worth considering.
Luneburg: I feel it may not quite great if one has seen Bruges, Colmar, Cochem etc.

Hamburg is definitely NOT like Amsterdam. Lübeck is great but really small. You've seen it in a day trip from Hamburg. Schwerin is also very picturesque, especially the area around the castle. It's a 2 hours train ride from Hamburg.

Hi,

If you decide to go to Berlin again, you can do Malmö to Berlin on the night train.

If it's the islands you prefer to see, there are the North Sea islands, in particular Norderney, accessible by ferry. Don't forget too Helgoland, which used to be accessible by a five hour ferry ride, and Sylt as suggested above.

Some random thoughts:

• I have not been to Leiden or Colmar but I can assure you that Bruges and Marken are totally different.
• They aren't islands, but Amsterdam and Bruges both have lovely canals you can cruise on or walk along
• For more water, you can visit the coast of Belgium and ride on the coastal tram.
• And for even more, spend a day in Germany doing a Rhine river cruise
• Are you interested at all in WWI history? We took a great day trip out of Bruges to Flanders Fields, with Quasimodo Tours. You get to see the Belgian countryside, during this very informative trip to the battlefields and cemeteries.
• An easy, inexpensive way to see Volendam and Marken from Amsterdam is to take the public bus. It's 10 euros per person for the entire day, leaves about every 20 minutes from behind the Amsterdam Centraal train station, drops you first at Edam and then Volendam. You can stay in each place as long as you want, then catch a bus to the next stop. We took a ferry (extra cost) from Volendam to Marken, and the bus back to Amsterdam.

Hi,
Thanks again for the replies. I will consider Schwerin for sure.
@Fred I know about the berlin-malmo night train, but the bahn site just doesn't show it. I would like to know more details if you got some.
Helgoland seems nice, but too far for just one island. Norderney is a better option. So I might have to select between Norderney and Sylt, both of which I like.
@Charlene, I am not interested in WW history. The bus tip for Volendam and marken is a good one, thanks!

If I manage to be a group of 4 people, we might even consider hiring a car for some parts.