After Rick Steves Portugal tour

I think you mean energetic women :-)

There aren't any good train connections to other places. But there are a lot of places you can fly to from Porto. Go to the wiki page for the Porto airport. Scroll down to the table for passenger flights. You'll see all the airlines and destinations available. See what floats your boat.

I'd choose Barcelona over Madrid, especially in September when temps are likely to be fairly high in Madrid, less so in Barcelona.

oops typo! I'll look into your suggestions. We are looking for a place an hour or so from an international airport to fly back to US. If nothing looks like what we want, we may head back towards Lisbon area. If so, beginning to read about Sintra or Cascais for R & R after the Rick Steves' tour. In your opinion, would either be a good option?

Viana do Castelo, near Porto, makes for great R&R in an attractive town by the ocean. No need to backtrack to Cascais or Sintra for that.

Some other ideas you might consider: When we took the RS Tour we arrived a couple days early and explored some places in Lisbon that were not covered on the tour. We also did a small guided day tour to Sintra and sorrounding areas. It was an amazing day with Manuel. www.lisbontours.com.

Following our tour we flew to Madrid x4 days on TAP Airlines. Then we took the train to Barcelona x4 days. If I only had 3-4 days I would just consider Barcelona for mild weather & sites. We were there in the month of September & it was lovely. Great international hub to fly home from.

There are a number of lovely places within an hour or so on the train from Porto. It really depends on what you will have already seen on your tour.
The Douro valley, Guimaraes, Braga, Aveiro or even Coimbra are fairly close. I wouldn’t suggest coming back down to Sintra or Cascais if you are flying out of Porto.
Getting to Spain is difficult unless you fly or drive.

Our favorite part of Portugal was the Minho region N of Porto. We stayed in Guimaraes, Portugal’s original capital city. It fills all of your requirements.
However you could also go to nearby, just across the border, Galicia Spain to visit one of my favorite travel experiences, Santiago de Compostela, where you can watch the Pilgrims arriving from their Caminos.

Thank for your replies! Some good ideas! We haven't make return flight reservations yet so that isn't an issue but would like to end up within an hour of our return flight airport if possible.

I haven't checked, but I imagine your Iberian options for non-stop flights back to SFO are Lisbon, Barcelona and Madrid. I don't know how much additional time would be required if you wanted to tlreturn from Porto or from Vigo (the largest airport in Spanish Galicia but not a very interesting town).

We are doing the Portugal tour in September 2020 also. We head to Barcelona right after our Portugal tour ends for the Barcelona Madrid 8 day tour.

My friend and I are looking at the September 21 or 28 tour. Which are you taking? Barcelona is a great visit. We spend 4 days there before a RS Sicily tour. We are doing RS Portugal after a private guide Morocco tour. Looking for some rest time in Portugal before heading home.