I only use the portal if I can walk up to it and touch it. That's the only way I go to camp also.
For me, that works well.
I usually take the same approach. I don’t generally bother walking up to a portal to use it as I’m perfectly happy to skip the actual trekking, but I’ll only do it long as I know I can get there without any encounters.
But as you’re probably aware, even with this restriction it is possible to use the portals creatively to bypass challenges. I see this as a plus, and adding to the variety of ways we can approach the game, but I do understand why some folk would call it cheese. For example, Wyll’s invisible imp or a druid in wildshape can just fly into the goblin camp and find the portal there missing all the challenges from guards, after which the rest of the party can jump into the centre of the camp from, say, the village and the goblins will assume they’re allowed to be there. And there are other situations where it’s easier to get a single party member to a portal then jump in the rest than get the whole party there.
Personally I hope that Larian don’t remove opportunities like this in the full release, even if they do restrict some of them, such as having at least one challenge from a goblin if/when they first see you in their camp.
