Northern Germany Itinerary Help

4.) With architecture in mind, here are a few smallish places - which might be seen somewhat more quickly - that I have enjoyed.

Bad Langensalza and Mühlhausen, just to the north of Eisenach and Erfurt and sort of in between. Scroll through photos at links below.

https://www.stadtbild-deutschland.org/forum/index.php?thread/3525-m%C3%BChlhausen-th%C3%BCringen-galerie/

https://www.stadtbild-deutschland.org/forum/index.php?thread/6297-bad-langensalza-galerie/

Lüneburg, not far from Hamburg:

https://www.stadtbild-deutschland.org/forum/index.php?thread/6296-l%C3%BCneburg-galerie/

Guide for a walk around Lüneburg: https://lifeslittleadventures.typepad.com/lifes_little_adventures/2009/09/l%C3%BCneburg-germany.html

Rinteln and Hameln, near Hanover.

Hannoversch Münden, not far from Kassel.

You may find something useful by skimming these two threads:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/baltic-germany-fachwerke-landesgartenschau

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/german-town-or-village-suggestions-in-september

Edit: I like Erfurt fine, but Weimar has much more to do and see. The key question for you is train time and frequency for the long trips to Eisenach and Quedlinburg. You'll also have to wait for local busses in Eisenach, I think. We had a car that day, and we slept in Weimar.

Are you aware that Weimar has a simple city bus line to Buchenwald?

I don't dispute that Hamburg and Lubeck are great visits. But you might want to (if possible) fly to Leipzig and focus on Leipzig and Dresden to pair with the small cities on your list. Then make another trip for Baltic Germany (just an idea.)

Great that you're going to Goslar and Weimar, Germany's "city of poets" (Dichterstadt) and one of my favourite towns in Germany. Goslar is a very famous place in German cultural history and which I've yet to see.

Obviously the attraction in Schwerin is the famous Schloss. If you plan on visiting Schwerin, I would suggest that be done from Hamburg Hbf, ie, a direct shot to Schwerin.

It's great that you're interested in northern Germany.

I would suggest to visit Magdeburg as well. The cathedral could definitely interest you because it is the oldest Gothic cathedral in the country: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdeburg_Cathedral.

Hamburg is really big and I'm sure there are guided tours on historical architecture. Hamburg was (unfortunately) known for quickly replacing old buildings with modern ones and so many buildings, especially red brick buildings, have disappeared. During a guided tour you will not only get to know the obvious buildings like the Speicherstadt (warehouse district) or the Chile House, but also hidden treasures.

Lübeck is the queen of the Hanseatic League and I would also recommend a tour here. I think knowing more about the history of the Hanseatic League makes the undoubtedly fantastic architecture even more exciting.

Talking about museums in Berlin this might be important: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/pergamon-museum-long-term-closure

Unfortunately I can't tell you which hotels you should book or what the best home base is in each case.

For Germans from Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, we pretty much think of anything south of the Elbe as basically Italy. When we say Northern Germany, we mean SH, most of HH, and maybe MV. If we are feeling generous, we might include Hamburg Harburg, Ostfriesland, Bremen, and some parts of northern Niedersachsen-- but definitely nothing below Hannover. So here I opened this and was a bit surprised at the title. I would call this an East German itinerary with a bit of Lübeck. Nothing wrong with that, but it was surprising.

To answer your questions:
Phase 1: Lübeck is lovely. Schwerin is a day at most. Skipping Hamburg is a mistake, even if our historic architecture is limited. Bremen is well worth a visit as well. As to how long you should stay, my answer is "you may as well move here because it is fantastic and there is so much to see and do." But of course I am biased.

Phase 2: Berlin is a fantastic city with so much that you will have to pick and choose. Sounds like you have done that. You can do a lot in three days, though.

Phase 3: The Harz is lovely no matter where you are. If your plan is to do more hiking, stay in a tiny village. But for your interests, I would recommend Wernigerode or maybe Quedlinburg. 3 days is probably reasonable.

Phase 4: I can't comment as much on this. There are definite sites to see, but it might be worth coming back and then including Dresden and other sites on a future trip if you think you will come back.

Quedlinburg is beyond gorgeous, though not undiscovered by European visitors. I stayed there in 2015, at which time the local tourist office rented a good audio guide for the town. In addition to the large number of old houses, there's an interesting cathedral with a rich treasury. (Google for info on the American serviceman who stole many of the most valuable artifacts--most later recovered--at the end of WWII.) There's also a small art gallery which I unfortunately didn't have time to see, because I spent so much time drooling over the architecture.

If you're able to return to Germany on a later trip to see Dresden, I recommend including Goerlitz and the Polish town of Zgorzelec (across the river) in your itinerary. They were one town until being split at the end of WWII. There's a lot of beautiful architecture there--better-kept on the German side of the border, due partly to an anonymous annual gift of 500,000 euros.

Quedlinburg and Goerlitz both have a huge number of historic buildings. Allow plenty of time to see them.

Another vote for Magdeburg, if you want to visit a something different. Don't expect to see any international tourists/visitors, let alone American.

In July 2009 I spent a week-end there, basically 2 full days, which originally was intended as a day trip from Berlin, decided otherwise the last minute to do more of an intensive visit than a superficial one.

The cathedral then was undergoing restoration, refurbishing, etc although one was allowed into the premises. I suggest visiting the Zentrum, Among the sites the soldiers' military memorial can be seen, which from a war history's perspective was interesting and rare.

Magdeburg is another city where you can walk across the Elbe as can be done in Dresden.

Aside from its horrific history in the Thirty Years War, Magdeburg served as a Garnisonstadt. The Americans' farthest reach in 1945 in the "race to Berlin" was Magdeburg when they put two bridgeheads on the Elbe, one was destroyed.

For Germans from Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg, we pretty much think of anything south of the Elbe as basically Italy.

I knew immediately that this will be mentioned when I read the post first time :-) :-)

People from Munich think 100km north of Munich everything is Prussia (of course they know it is not the case). The Danube river is the so called 'Weißwurstäquator' (White Sausage Equator).

I use the Main as the geographic dividing line between North Germany and the south.

On the other hand, one can use the speech accent differences where you first distinguish and hear a marked difference in pronunciation, tone and accent as the dividing line.

It's funny--Cuxhaven is geographically north of us here in Hamburg, but we all consider it south. My husband was baffled when my friend and I explained this, insisting that it is further north. We had to tell him that doesn't matter! I know they speak Platt, are on the water, etc. But they are on the south side of the Elbe. The same is true for the Hamburg population south of the river. It's the same city, the same Bundesland, and of course includes many coworkers and friends, but they are still at the end of the world. That may also be because trying to get through the Elbtunnel is such a nightmare ;)

Regarding your interest in "historic architecture" as it pertains to North Germany, I would also suggest Lüneburg, along with Flensburg, Eutin/Holstein and Celle.

What all these cities have in common aside from their location in the North and not inundated with international tourists (no need to be concerned with crowds here), they all escaped severe war damage , basically came out of the war unscathed.

Eutin and Lüneburg I've visited numerous times and know them the best, Flensburg only a little.