small coastal town in Portugal

We go to Portugal often and love Nazare. Spend a few days there every time. We stay at Adega Oceano, a typical Portuguese residencial, which is right on the ocean. Breakfast is included and they also have a restaurant for lunch & dinner. Nazare is about 1.5 hour to Lisbon, 2 hr or so to Porto and Douro wine region by car, not sure about train. Cascais is close to Lisbon so would be an extra hour to Porto. Cascais is also more touristy than the other towns you mention. Faro and Salema are in the Algarve, about 3 hrs south of Lisbon and so much farther to Porto. Not sure which would be best for you.

I always recommend Salema and several other Algarve villages, but the previous poster is correct in saying that those, while exceptionally charming and fun to visit, are pretty far from Lisbon (at least as far as day trips are concerned).

Thanks for your comments. If we decided not to do a day trip to Lisbon, would that change your suggestions? We can always come back to Lisbon for a multiple-day visit on another trip. Sometimes I think it is better to pass on a city vs trying to to get a snippet in just one day.

If you decide to skip Lisbon and want to tour the Douro wine region and Porto then Nazare would probably be best. If you want to visit the southern coast then Salema would be the place to stay. Agree it's best to spend more time in Lisbon and save it for another time so you can do it justice and really enjoy it. There are also lots of historical towns, palaces, etc. not far from Lisbon which, if you wanted to visit them along with Lisbon, could make for a nice two week trip.