Germany Initial General Itinerary (Logistics)

Here is what Rick recommends:
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/germany/itinerary

I could see 3/2/2/3/4 nights for the destinations you have listed with morning departures for the next city.

However, the Munich > Nuremberg trip is quite short, and 1 night in N'berg, with several hours in Nuremberg on the following day followed by a late afternoon train trip to Cologne (2 nights there) should provide adequate time for both Nuremberg and Cologne. That will save you one day/night in the event that you have only 13 nights. Or if you have 14, you can spend the extra time in Leipzig or Berlin.

Or, since Cologne is an outlier in this list, cut it. Munich-Nuremberg-Leipzig-Berlin is more or less a straight line, connected by ICE trains over short distances. Into Berlin and out of Munich, as United has nonstops for these from EWR. That will leave time for a few day trips from one or two of these.

TY G3 and Russ. Very helpful indeed.

TY Sam....I like that

I was also going to suggest cutting Cologne. I would personally sub Dresden for Leipzig as well.

Another vote for Dresden instead of Leipzig. If possible, try to squeeze in a smaller town in the Erzgebirge (Ore) mountains like Annaberg-Buchholz.

It's unclear whether certain topics are important to your trip: War history, older art, contemporary art, music history, literary history, outdoor activity, Christmas markets? All those would affect your choices. If you have a strong desire to fly in and out of certain cities, that would also affect planning. But Munich and Berlin both have plenty of flights. (I personally didn't care for Munich.)

I'm glad you wrote, "Don't need to see everything on this trip."

Distance-wise, Cologne (which is a favorite of mine) seems like an outlier for your list of cities. It might be helpful to make a list of daytrips planned, for example, Erfurt, Quedlinburg, Weimar. Since this list seems easterly, I'd also mention Prague, which I wish I had visited sooner in my travels. There is no reason to restrict yourself to Germany, and it sounds like you prefer a few nights in each city.

My suggestion is Munich to Nuremberg to Dresden to Prague and finish in Berlin. All easy train rides and beautiful sights. If you have two weeks that’s 14 days so. 3-2-3-3-3. Only suggestions. Been to each city many times enjoyed each one for what it has to offer.

I would suggest staying in the east focusing on and choosing from Leipzig, Berlin, Dresden, Magdeburg, Weimar, depending on your time constraint.

Numerous places , cities and small towns in the east, eg, Greifswald, Neuhardenberg, Jena, Stralsund, Schwerin, Rheinsberg, etc are well worthy of seeing and exploring., all depends on the level of your interest.

TY All for your wonderful feedback. So many choices, which is a good thing. I didn't think of the Prague proximity. TY for that. And all of those smaller but great places to wander through.