Amalfi coast walking holiday in Italy

Planet

Carbon Reduction

On this walking trip we have endeavoured to minimise our transport carbon footprint by staying in a single centre for the duration of the holiday and cutting down on the amount of travelling. One of the five included hikes starts directly from the hotel, and on the four others we take advantage of the great local public buses and a local ferry to reach the start of our walks and then return to the hotel from their end point.
This holiday has a fixed joining and ending time at Naples airport. This means all our customers travel between the airport and our hotel (a journey of around 70 km) on one private chartered bus together, cutting down on what might otherwise be a large number of individual transfers and minimising fuel consumption.
As a travel company we are acutely aware of our impact on the environment. All of our tours display a carbon footprint, and we strive to reduce our emissions by regularly reviewing our tours and embracing low-impact styles of travel such as trains, public buses or walking – which offer the added benefit of getting a closer connection with the destination and local community.

Environment and Wildlife

The trails we hike on along the Amalfi coast pass through a mix of cultivated landscapes but also protected reserves such as the Valle delle Ferriere Natural Park. Many of the paths are ancient mule trails that link the small inland villages along the coast. The interest of travellers in hiking here has stimulated the local authorities interest in keeping these ancient footways preserved and thus maintaining alternative routes to driving. Our tour leaders always brief our customers on the importance of protecting the environments we walk through, sticking to the paths to avoid erosion, not interfering with any animal or plant life and carrying all rubbish home.
We strive to support nature and biodiversity through protection and regeneration projects, and for every customer that travels with us we make a donation to Rewilding Britain and Cool Earth.
We encourage customers to avoid single-use plastic on tour, and our leaders give advice on refill points each day. Where tap water isn't safe to drink we recommend Water-to-Go bottles, a filtration bottle allowing you to drink water from any source.

People

Local Economy

This trip has been specifically designed to operate in the off-season, staying in Maiori, a small town on the Amalfi Coast only in the months of November, December, February and March. Visiting at this much quieter time of the year helps both to reduce the negative impact of overtourism in this popular destination, and to provide an economic benefit to tourist reliant businesses that may struggle financially in winter. During our stay our tour leaders encourage customers to visit the local bars, shops and small family-owned restaurants both in Maiori and the smaller villages that we pass through on our walks. Our small seafront hotel here is owned and run by a local mother and daughter team with staff from the region.
There are various opportunities on this trip to learn about and support local small scale food producers and artisans. On our hike in the Tremonti region we visit a lemon farm to discover all about a local farming tradition and we can buy produce direct from the farm. We will also enjoy a tasting of wines and salamis and other locally produced foodstuffs at a small cantina, helping to support small scale farmers. In Vietri Sul Mare, a coastal town famous for its ceramics we visit an artisans workshop and there's the opportunity to try our hand at ceramic painting ion the Amalfi style.
Our leaders are the heart of tours. They bring passion and unrivalled knowledge of the destinations and communities that we visit. Their guidance ensures we observe the cultural norms in a destination, they act as a bridge between travellers and the local community and ensure that tourism is a positive experience for both host and guest. We believe in supporting local; staying in locally-run hotels, exploring markets, buying snacks from street vendors, and by doing this we add money to the local economy and enhance our connection with the local community.

Employment, Inclusivity and Diversity

Our local Italian leaders were born and brought up in the region and have helped in the design of our trip. Through their connections we have been able to include interesting opportunities to meet the local people such as when we visit a lemon grove in Tremonti and sample local food and wine in a rustic cantina.