is getting from porto down to evora without a car such a logistical mess?

im currently mapping out a trip and trying to figure out a way to see the historic interior like coimbra and evora before heading down towards the beaches. if you just stick to the main lisbon and porto line the trains are incredibly straightforward, but trying to cut inland to the alentejo region completely breaks the routing logic.
the regional buses either run once a day at weird times or require three different transfers in random towns. i looked into driving instead but the one way car rental dropoff feess.and then the toll tags you need for the auto estradas make it stupidly expensive just for a few days.

while i was looking up route maps to see how people bypass the municipal transit gaps, i read google reviews of people recommending tours through operators ( indus travel is the one i looked up then) that include private coach transfers through evora and the douro valley villages as part of their baseline itineraries. it made me wonder if it is even worth trying to organize all this manually ?

for anyone who did the historic towns without renting a car, did you find a decent bus network that connects the interior regions efficiently or did you just skip the countryside entirely to stick to the main rail line?