Making the most of free time on a tour

Escorted tours, in my experience, tend to work best when the itinerary allows a happy medium between travels from A to B, organised activities, and free time. Fortunately, there’s a balanced marriage of all three on my Collette tour of southern Italy, a 13-day trip coaching us across the country from Naples, on the west coast, to Puglia on the east.

Among the most gripping components of this trip is the Amalfi Coast, whose treasures and pleasures we’re discovering with the help of local characters and guides, but also through our own adventures and inclinations.

In the ravishing hilltop town of Ravello, for example, we spend an hour or so with Guiseppe, a knowledgeable guide who unfurls absorbing tales of the people who built and graced this dreamy destination.

Then we’re let loose by our tour manager, Dario, who informs us we have a few hours to roam Ravello, perhaps to browse its gift stores, or to sit down for a cappuccino or an alfresco lunch at one of the appealing cafes and restaurants sprinkled in and around the pine tree-shaded central piazza.

We can then reunite with Dario and our driver Vincenzo for the coach transfer back to Minori, our nearby base on the Amalfi Coast.

But there’s an alternative option that I — and several others in our group — find irresistible.

By road, it’s a winding 20-minute journey from Ravello to Minori, but the former is literally perched above the latter, a kilometre or so away as the gull flies.

Signposted, simple-to-follow trails link the two towns, meandering past the lemon groves that are a distinctive feature of this coast. Sweeping from the lush terraced slopes to the azure sun-kissed sea, the vistas are magnificent as I descend the footpath, which sometimes slopes down fairly gently, then occasionally plunges into steep staircase form.

Wildflowers sprout through the cracks in the path’s stone walls and trees, and hedges blossom from the gardens of the houses I pass. We’re here in the Italian spring when it’s a comfortable 20C, and sporadically overcast, but walking in the other direction would be very tough on the calves and lungs, even in this weather.

At one stage, as a skink dashes energetically across the wisteria-shaded path, I pass a 50-something woman who’s sluggishly climbing up from Minori carrying three bags of shopping. Despite the obvious effort, she manages to smile and breathe a “buongiorno” (“good morning”) to me.

For walkers of moderate fitness, the walk down is simple enough, although it is quite taxing on the knees, and you may find walking poles ease the strain somewhat.

On one of the flatter sections of this route, I stand to one side as a younger man trundles past on a donkey, with another one trailing behind. Though motorised vehicles mostly do the job nowadays, some local farms still use these — and mules — to cart lemons and other goods.

We’re in the foothills of the Lattari Mountains, a verdant range rising to 1444m above sea level. It’s widely claimed the name comes from the Italian word “latte”, for milk. This has been a dairy hotspot since ancient Roman times, and the region’s artisanal cheesemakers still hand-milk their sheep, goats and cows to produce the likes of provola, caciocavallo and ricotta.

When I reach Minori, less than an hour after leaving Ravello, buoyant from my walk, I resist the temptation to go for a lie-down at the hotel. I have another dairy product in mind. Heading down to the seafront, I reward myself with a nice revitalising gelato.

+ Steve McKenna was a guest of Collette. They have not influenced this story, or read it before publication. fact file + A three-night stay in Minori, with a guided outing in Ravello, is included on Collette’s 13-day Amalfi Coast to Puglia tour, which begins in Naples on dates between March and December. It’s priced from $8249 per person (based on two sharing). gocollette.com/en-au + For more details on visiting the Amalfi Coast, see visitamalfi.info/en + To help plan a trip to Italy, see italia.it/en