Meet Epic’s Miguel Campos, expert in Northern Portugal and beyond

Born in northern Portugal and shaped by years in the Douro, Miguel has the relationships, stories and local instinct that help turn an idea into an Epic journey

Ask Miguel Campos to find a brilliant chef in a remote corner of the Douro and there’s a good chance he already has someone in mind. Ask whether a winemaker could join you for dinner, whether an old railway station beside the river could become your home for the night or whether a private camp could appear among the vineyards, and he’ll start thinking about who he knows.

There are years of relationships behind those answers.

Miguel was born in northern Portugal and has spent much of his life getting to know the country Epic now shares with its travellers. Before joining Epic, he ran his own wine tourism company in the Douro Valley.

“For many years, my life was going from Porto into the Douro every day,” he says. “That’s where my passion for the region really started.”

Those days were spent among vineyards, villages and estates, introducing people to the Douro and the wines that have shaped it. Twelve years later, plenty of the people he met along the way are still in his phone.

The Douro according to Miguel

Ask Miguel where he would go in the Douro and his answer comes quickly: east.

The Douro Superior, stretching towards the Spanish border, is his favourite part of the valley. Roads become quieter, villages smaller and the landscape increasingly wild.

“For me, it’s the real Douro,” he says. “It still has that feeling of being wild and remote.”

It also happens to produce some of Miguel’s favourite wines in Portugal. After years spent visiting estates and getting to know the people behind them, he knows the region’s wine exceptionally well. He holds a WSET Level 2 qualification and has built up quite the collection of Port at home.

The collection did, however, take a hit during lockdown (of course). 

“My wife and I decided there was no point keeping all these beautiful bottles for some perfect future occasion,” he laughs. “So we started opening them.”

They’ve been rebuilding the collection ever since.

That knowledge naturally finds its way into the journeys Miguel creates. He knows the producers he trusts, the bottles he’d happily put on the table and the winemakers he’d want sitting there to tell you the story behind them.

“When Epic needs something in Portugal, I normally start by thinking about who I know,” he says. “A chef, a winemaker, somebody who can open a place that people wouldn’t normally experience.”

Turning an idea into a journey

Part of Miguel’s job is working out how an ambitious idea can actually happen.

That might involve conversations with landowners, chefs, specialist guides, winemakers and conservationists. Sometimes it involves looking at a map and wondering what might be hiding along a particular stretch of river.

That’s exactly what happened while developing Epic’s latest Douro Valley adventure.

Miguel needed somewhere guests could reach after kayaking from Barca d’Alva. He knew the abandoned railway running alongside the river was dotted with old stations, so he started exploring.

His search led him to Castelo Melhor Old Train Station, a beautifully restored private family property overlooking the Douro.

Reaching it by land is difficult. It isn’t available to book. The owners agreed to open it privately for Epic guests.

“They don’t want lots of tourism there,” Miguel explains. “They want the right people coming and enjoying the place in the right way.”

It’s exactly the sort of opportunity that years spent getting to know a region can uncover.

The Campos family touch

Some Epic adventures have another Campos quietly behind them too.

Miguel’s wife is an interior designer, and her eye for detail has already found its way into the experiences he creates.

Several years ago, Charlie, founder of Epic, asked Miguel to create a private camp in Portugal for an Epic family. Miguel worked out the location and logistics; his wife helped turn the tents into somewhere people would genuinely want to stay.

“All the pillows and details, she chose everything,” Miguel remembers. “She would move something and say, ‘No, this is better here.’ She has that eye.”

It’s a family collaboration that can bring another layer to Epic’s private camps in Portugal.

For the latest Douro experience, that means taking inspiration from the region itself: beautiful beds and linen beneath canvas, natural materials and locally rooted pieces such as traditional woven textiles.

Northern Portugal has a wonderful textile heritage. In Freixo de Espada à Cinta, silk is still produced and woven by hand using centuries-old techniques, while the wider region has a long tradition of wool blankets and weaving.

“Where you sleep should feel connected to where you are,” Miguel says. “You should wake up and still feel that you’re in the Douro.”

The people behind the places

Spend time with Miguel and names start appearing.

An estate owner. A winemaker. A guide who knows the prehistoric engravings of the Côa Valley. Someone who can lead guests into rewilding country in search of Sorraia horses. A young chef Miguel has selected after he placed second in a national Portuguese chef competition.

His Portugal has been built person by person, journey by journey.

It also means an Epic itinerary can begin with an idea.

Could we sleep here? Who could cook for us? Could the winemaker join dinner? Could we arrive from the river? Who knows this landscape well enough to show guests what they might otherwise miss?

“I love creating something where people can really feel the place,” Miguel says. “The wine, the landscape, the people, the food – it should all belong to Portugal.”

Portugal, according to Miguel

Miguel has spent years showing people his country, and there is still plenty he wants them to discover.

He knows the celebrated places and the quieter stretches beyond them. He knows the village worth stopping in, the wine worth ordering and the person worth meeting once you arrive.

For him, the best journeys leave enough room to enjoy all of it.

“I like that feeling of freedom when you travel,” he says. “You’re outside, you have good food and wine, the children can explore, and nobody is thinking too much about the time.”

It’s an instinct that fits rather nicely with Epic. Years of friendships, local knowledge, curiosity and quite a few phone calls from Miguel all find their way into the finished itinerary.

See Miguel’s latest adventure take shape

Kayak into the Douro Superior, sleep in a privately opened railway station, spend a night beneath canvas among the vines and follow prehistoric horses from rock to living landscape. 

Discover Epic’s private Douro adventure →