7 nights in Lisbon?

Although bus tours from or sold by companies like Viator are often disdained on this newsboard, we found two of them good value for getting to multiple distant daytrips sites in a single day. I agree that Sintra should be done on your own, but a trip like "Small groups to Fátima, Batalha, Nazaré and Óbidos" can deliver a lot. We did, in fact, rent a car after Lisbon, to drive north. But with a short visit and limited planning time, you might consider this idea.

Our trips were in full-size busses, and I think their-lunch was a required purchase. But that was a long time ago. We could walk to the bus departure from our downtown hotel. Lisbon is a very walkable city. Unless you are trying to get a rockbottom price by taking a remote hotel, I wouldn't worry about your location. We always have the hotel breakfast, so we can wash up in our room before heading out for the day. Personal choice.

Lisbon has updated a lot since our first visit. There's even a Time Out marketplace. But it's still more like Rick's Europe of 1980 than many other places. Pronunciation of the few courtesy words you should learn is difficult. Because we live in a coastal US state, we never go to the beach for swimming on a European trip. Remember that some beaches in the world have only dangerous swimming - no idea about Lisbon and Cascais or Sintra.

We just came from Lisbon in May. We did visit Sintra, Belem (on our way back from Sintra, we just got off there)(the Jeronimos Monestery was beautiful), and Caiscais. Caiscais has a beach. Cute, very small beach town. We did eat at the Time Out Market in Lisbon, but we also found a wonderful small square with food stalls (I'll try to find the location and post) where we had wonderful cured hams and their famous cheese, with bread and wine---mostly locals. I really liked our hotel, Hotel Alegria, right off Libertade, near metro stop (one block). They had a small park in the front of the hotel where they had a small kiosk with drinks---very nice and relaxing in the evening. The room was unbelievably large for European standards! Good breakfast, too----quiet area.

@Tim, I guess I would be one that has disdain for Viator. However, its not the concept of a tour that I have disdain for, Viator is a consolidator of sorts. They sell other companies's tours and take a cut. When I can book directly with a small company, I do. I think your suggestion of this particular tour, "Small groups to Fátima, Batalha, Nazaré and Óbidos", is a good one as it certainly simplifies travel arrangements. Do you recall if the company providing the actual tour is, Tour Sweet Tours? If so, it is sold by Viator and also Expedia, and probably from the company directly.

We used Lisbon Riders on a great day tour to the coast, Cascais and Sintra. Highly recommended. We also did Evora, a winery and the monoliths on a private tour with Inside Lisbon. We did a Lisbon food tour with Secret Food Tours, and a free walking tour with Lisbon Chillout Freetour. We did Belem on our own. Let me know if I can answer any questions. We had a week in Lisbon (Hotel Lisboa Plaza) and loved it.

Oriente train station is closer to Park of Nations than historic Lisbon, but Ubers and taxis are affordable and easy to use. We used taxis and Ubers rather than the metro.

We stayed in Baixa at Meraprime gold. Beds were comfortable. I don't remember hearing street noise from our room but we were in a 5th floor suite with high small windows.

I liked St George's castle and the views. The hills of Alfama are steep. We took an Uber up most of the way to the castle from Baixa and walked down.

Guicino beach area is beautiful with sand dunes. Located between Cascais and Sintra. Some rent bikes and ride the bike path along the ocean. I could spend a week just in Sintra.

We liked Evora also but the views on the way to Evora are farmlands and rivers much like the Midwest here in the States. (My family lives in northern MN- lots of driving from East coast to/from MN) The black pork in Evora was delicious as was the red wine.

Happy planning and happy travels!

Thank you all for your suggestions so far. Belem is definitely on my list of places to go.

Some of the hotels mentioned look lovely, but a bit above our preferred budget (the last time we traveled, 100-130 Euro a night was great, 200 Euro a night was a treat, 400 Euro a night for a week would make us very uncomfortable.)

I haven't done small group (day) tours for many years. I wouldn't rule them out, but I am wondering if Evora lends itself well to a day trip by bus or train? Or Tomar?

Belem is a district of Lisbon with much to offer. This is the area the explorers left from to discover much of the world. Jeronimos Monastery is magnificent, the Monument to the Discoveries, the Coach Museum are all very interesting.. We took a tram there.

Jules, our tour usage in Lisbon was so long ago that even if I could look it up, it would be of little value today. I will add that (I wrote in a Poland Trip Report) once when I told the actual provider "I tried to book this on your website, but it wasn't among the tours listed, so I used Viator ... ", they ruefully replied, "Yeah, I know." They had built their own website, so there is some marketing dynamic that neither you or I know about, perhaps.

Because our tours (in Lisbon) were in 49-passenger busses, I don't feel like I screwed some little guy. Being able to walk from our hotel to the bus center, and back after a no-cost extra two hours on the trip, was a big plus. I suspect that 10-passenger and auto-rental size busses are used today to give a feeling of small-group, but I can't compare the actual experiences.

The real objection, which I cannot contradict (and you didn't express just now) is that the tour is made on THEIR schedule. It was a nice treat on our bus tour of Segovia from Madrid that the notorious (!) tour company paid-off restaurant lunch was NOT REQUIRED, so we had 1.5 hours extra "free time", eating a pre-made sandwich while walking around. Just for comparison.

On another bus tour from Madrid, the young female guide gave some directions to an little old man through the open bus door. After the door was shut, she told us (I mean, around 1989), "If you see an older person who is that diminutive, you can assume that they were malnourished during the Civil War ... " I count that as a "Rick Steves Moment", on a mass tourism bus product ... ...

I have never used AirBnB, but there have been reliable news articles about Lisbon (specifically) cracking down on AirBnb because of the harm it does to the local housing market. Apparently, it has reached the Venice-level of trouble in Lisbon. The key issue isn't whether you agree with me on SIlicon Valley Bro's Civil Rights, it's whether there is a danger your rental will be taken down by the time you arrive, and you have to hastily find a replacement.

Links to newspaper articles in this thread:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/covid-19-fallout-on-lodging-industry

Also:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/a-plug-for-airbnb

Evora can be done by train. The train station in Evora is right outside the walls. Evora is very walkable and can be done in a few hours if you just want to tour inside the walls. A Megalith tour and winery visit may be better in a day tour by bus that includes the city inside. Some of the vineyards do offer wine stores and tastings inside the walled part of town.

FWIW, we stayed at the Solar Do Castelo when we spent a week in Lisbon about 2 years ago and greatly enjoyed both the boutique hotel, the location built into the side of the royal palace at the top of the hill in the Alfama District (highest viewpoint in Lisbon)...really charming cobblestone neighborhood, very, very old, quaint. Nice little mom-and-pop restaurants. I do not know if has the convenience factor you are looking for, but the hotel will arrange transportation for you to the railway stations and airport. It may not be what you want, but it is worth a look. Also nice rooms, lovely staff, and the peacocks from the palace gardens strut along the shared wall with the hotel courtyard and shriek at you while you are enjoying the excellent breakfast.