I don’t particularly believe that people in the north talk more slowly. What many people around Porto have is a different accent that makes some vowels seem more open, and they also talk a bit more loudly. That could make it easier to pick more syllables when listening. But not everyone in that area speaks with such distinct accent.
As for speaking English, I would say that no matter what part of the country, almost everyone younger than 40 will be able to speak/understand some level of English. It’s not exclusive to bigger cities since learning English has been mandatory in schools for many years, and nowadays they start learning it at around the age of 8 (or even earlier), with most having English classes until the 11th grade.

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Thanks Joric for this review. 1) Agree 100-percent that Portuguese pronunciation is a challenge. Didn’t know folks in northern PT enunciate more clearly than in Lisbon. Italian pronunciation is far easier as every vowel and syllable is pronounced. There are few exceptions but these exceptions are very frequent so not too many “gotcha’s” with Italian pronunciation. 2) Related question: I understand there are free PT language courses for those preparing to pass the PT citizenship exam. Have you ever considered these? Since the end result is to pass an exam, I assume these classes are mostly focused on grammar and answering ‘easy’ questions. Any experience or thoughts? Cheers.

One thing I suggest (been working on it for 6 months now) is learn from someone that English is their first language. They’ve had the struggles so they know. I tried to learn from a native Portuguese person and they started much further along than the person that was a native English person. Also on Brazilian Portuguese is a syllable stressed language where European Portuguese is a time stressed language just like English. Odd since it’s technically the same language. People I’ve talked with say that Brazilian Portuguese is easier to learn and understand because of that.