Rental car Lisbon question

Not sure what your exact plans are, but you won't need a car at all to visit Evora. Actually the city is very walkable and with lots of pedestrian only areas, therefore having a car might be an hindrance.

So the easiest solution would be to take a direct train from either Lisboa Oriente or Lisboa Entrecampos stations and comfortably ride the train to Evora. The journey is less than 2 hours long, so, not longer than by car, when everything is said and done.

Train timetables are available below.
https://www.cp.pt/passageiros/en

If you need a car for other reasons than just visit Evora, then I would return it to the airport, because the airport is really easy to reach coming from across the bridge (Ponte Vasco de Gama)

I am planning to visit some areas around Evora, so we chose to rent a car. I will have to drop off the car in Lisbon so I would like to find the easiest (no excessive traffic and easy public transportation).

Although, perhaps dropping off the car in Evora might be an option that I hadn't thought about.....

I edited my previous post.

The easiest return coming from Evora is at the airport. Then from there you can take a very inexpensive Uber to anywhere in the city.

Returning at Evora is another option, if the company you rent from has an agency in town. Just be aware of potential one way fees, which in Europe are generally very low if in the same country, but still check.

You could also go by train, then rent a car and return it in Evora (pick up and return at the same office), after you are done visiting Evora and you just want to take some day trips around. So what works best for you. Just make sure your accommodations are car friendly (not in a pedestrian area and preferably with parking on premises).

We recently rented a car from Lisbon airport. When we returned to Lisbon for our final 2 days before our flight home, we dropped our luggage at the hotel and checked in and then returned the car to the airport. From there we took a cheap Uber back to the hotel. Good thing we did it this was because the Uber was very small and couldn’t have fit both of us, our 2 suitcases and personal items.

We spent 2.5 days in Lisbon and then went back to the airport via Metro to collect the car and go on to Evora. The journey away from Lisbon was easy. On the way back from the eastern part of the country, the return of the car at the airport was the worst part of the drive but only due to the crowds of people returning cars at the same time. However, the car companies have a clear process and handled everything quickly for returning, so it wasn't that bad.