North to South itinerary

I've been to the Azores a couple of times.
I'd prefer going to the Algarve. My nice used to have a condo outside of Faro, and it was pretty lovely place. Most flights from there would go through London to get back home.

Do you plan on a car at all? If so I would pick one up in Porto ( or Coimbra) and go to either Nazare or close to there. Then you could do some beaching, as well as drive to see some close-by historical sites ( Alcobaca, Batalha to name a couple). Then drive on to Evora and finish in Lisbon , drop the car at the start of Lisbon or Sintra if you decide to stay in Sintra instead of just day-tripping from Lisbon.

I should have added - I will not be driving at all. I don’t mind doing some tours to be able to see as much as possible.

If you don’t want to rent a car, the ‘beachy locations’ on the commuter train line from Lisbon to Cascais might be your best bet. There are a number of small towns with beaches that you could access without a car. Carcavelos has a lovely large beach and all the towns between there and Cascais have beaches.
You might want to look at a map, then research the towns you see. Cascais has several historical places to visit.

I wouldn’t go to the Algarve or the Azores for only three days. And, both those locations are difficult without a car.

You could also pick up a Lonely Planet book for ideas. As the other poster stated, RS doesn’t include some of the smaller places. And, speaking for those of us in Cascais - we are grateful for that!

Hello to Victoria from Victoria (the city) We did Portugal in September 2018. Flew into Lisbon via YYZ and flew home from Porto via YYZ. How many nights have you got? PM me and I can send you our itinerary. We had 16 nights and saw much of the country. Rented a car on the way out of LIsbon and dropped if off on the way into Porto.

Victoria, could “beachy location” be stretched to include a beautiful, scenic, rural riverside location with a wonderful hotel and a big beautiful swimming pool? You might consider going up the Douro River from Porto, by boat or by train, to Pinhao, where the Vintage House Hotel is really special. From there, you can take various tours to wineries and scenic towns along the river. I’m sure there are other lovely towns and hotels, and I am just sharing my own experience. You could also consider taking a multi-day boat trip up the Douro from Porto, maybe others can make suggestions if you are interested.

If you want to do the beach, go to Florida or the Caribbean. I have been to 80% of the countries in Europe and never been impressed by any of the beaches. Europe should be about history, culture and art.

The Azores are great, I loved it there, more than Hawaii. It is not expensive.