Help with Germany trip post RS Poland tour

If you have 7 days, I would probably stay in Berlin and, once you have explored Berlin, take day trips from there. If you have 10 days, I might stay in Berlin for half of that and explore other places in the other half.

For shopping, you can get that done in Berlin. I don't think you need to go anywhere else for that. For history and museums, obviously, Berlin is the greatest place too. Start at the museum island or with any museum that you are interested in.

For further traveling, can you be a bit more specific about your interests? As a starting point, you might have a look at the map or the list of UNESCO world heritage sites and go from there.

From Krakow, all travel by train, two or three nights in Wroclaw, three nights in Dresden, ending with four nights in Berlin.

Berlin is my favorite place in Germany. I’ve been there twice, once in Nov and the other time in June both times it rained. The first time I was there in Nov, it never stopped raining the three nights I was there. Thankfully I was dressed for it and carried an umbrella, so I didn’t miss seeing anything and still loved Berlin.
The second time when I went in June, the weather was perfect until my last day. I woke up to a torrential downpour that never let up. I decided to go out anyway and wore a raincoat and carried an umbrella, it rained so hard that a quick dash from one place to the next left me drenched including my underwear. When I got back to my hotel room, I had to twist and ring my clothes by hand, water poured out after every turn of the wrist. Nothing was dry the next day even after using a hair dryer including my shoes. I still suggest going to Berlin but expect to be stuck in doors one of the days that you’re there so add extra day(s) to your Berlin itinerary.
I suggest buying Rick Steves Berlin guidebook that’s available now plus Lonely Planet’s that won’t be available until Jan. Your guidebooks will have recommended day trips from Berlin but do visit Dresden for the day that’s a 2h direct train ride away. Furthermore, Wittenberg is 45-minutes, Leipzig is 1h 15m and Erfurt is 2h.

My favorite museum was the DDR. I also suggest exploring the neighborhoods and taking self-guided walks that your guidebooks recommend so you don’t miss seeing or experiencing anything. If you still would like to spend a couple days elsewhere, consider a trip to Hamburg for a couple nights.

Hamburg! I love this city, especially in June and July!

Hi,

Spend the time in Berlin and/or other places in North Germany, full of cultural and historical sites and museums. If it's historical museums and palaces you're interested in, I suggest going to Eutin/Holstein, Schleswig, Stralsund, Lüneburg, Kiel in addition to cities suggested above.

If you stay in Berlin the entire time using it as a radius, numerous other towns I can suggest for excursions if you're interested in Prussian history....Potsdam, Neustrelitz, Neuruppin, Neuhardenherg, Rheinsberg, Wustrau/Brandenberg,

Shopping ... how about Mönckebergstraße in Hamburg. The cultural center of North Germany is Hamburg, nice in July, been there often over the years.

The cultural center of North Germany is Hamburg

You're moving on thin ice there. ;-)

Don't let the people from Bremen hear you say that. Or from about a dozen other towns in the North. :-)

"...on thin ice" Doch. ! One can compare Bremen with a cultural center like Hamburg? Hamburger Staatsoper, Philharmonie, the Uni, NDR,

How far south or east in North Germany? Hannover, Göttingen, Leipzig, Naumburg an der Saale, Dresden, Erfurt, Weimar, Halle ?

"...on thin ice" Doch. ! One can compare Bremen with a cultural center
like Hamburg?

I was just hinting at an old rivalry between the two cities which can still be seen in their soccer teams. :-)

And I must admit that I have a personal preference for Bremen! Nonetheless, I would not recommend it here: too far west. Having said that, I wouldn't recommend Hamburg either, in spite of its undoubted cultural values. :-)

When someone has just spent a number of days in a big city like Berlin, I would tend not to recommend moving on right to the next big city. I would instead recommend smaller towns for a contrast. Lübeck, Lüneburg, Celle, Hildesheim come to mind. But again, it would be helpful if the OP let us know more of what they are particularly interested in.

Dresden, Erfurt or Weimar certainly also are worth a visit, but since the OP explicitly asked for northern Germany, I didn't consider those.

Worth a visit are also Meißen and Naumburg an der Saale but they would probably not be what the OP has in mind as to direction.

I am not saying Bremen is not worth visiting, went to both Hamburg and Bremen on my first trip to Germany. one should visit both, ideally. Ordinarily, after visiting Berlin going to another big city such as Hamburg may be too much unless one really has sites, say, historical in Hamburg, (Pinneberg, Friedrichsruh, in mind to see.

Re: the North.....Numerous smaller places in Schleswig-Holstein , itself a very interesting region , and northern Lower Saxony are well worth the OP 's time.