A secret side of the Amalfi Coast that most tourists never see

The landscape. The sea. The colours. The beauty. Aptly nicknamed the Divine Coast, Amalfi has enticed artists, poets, movie stars and photographers for centuries. It juts into the Mediterranean Sea, just an hour south of Naples. Once a collection of humble fishing villages dotting the coastline, the region has evolved into a clutch of glamorous cliff-perched resort towns.

Weaving along the hairpin twists and turns of the narrow serpentine coastline to our farmstay, it's easy to see why the Amalfi Coast is one of the world's most photogenic places. And when I step out of the airport transfer van in Agerola, 600 metres above Amalfi, it's to views of a wide-green plateau nestled in the Lattari Mountains, which is known to the locals as Little Switzerland. The fresh mountain air hits me straightaway.

This is a place where phone reception is non-existent, or at best, prone to dropping out. So you can breathe deep, unplug from the world and settle in.

Agerola offers farmstays, which is a radically different way to experience life on the Amalfi Coast. During an eight-day Explore Worldwide walking trip we stay at Luna d'Agerola, or Agerola's Moon. It's a small working farm that doubles as accommodation under the "agriturismo" system introduced in the 1980s as a way of saving Italy's struggling farming sector. Agriturismos have become increasingly popular for those on a budget and ours is just a three-minute walk to the sleepy, crowd-free village of San Lazzaro, where you can find a small number of bars, restaurants, and shops to pick up basics.

The farmstay itself is small and intimate with just 11 rooms, each with a bathroom but no internet access, but there is a common room with Wi-Fi. The farm is run by brothers Ferdinando and Valentino and their sister Giovanna, whose passion for baking cakes comes in handy when it comes to taking snacks to enjoy along the trails. The family's dog Veha is also great company and unofficially joins us on an afternoon forest walk one day.

Agerola is crossed with 60 kilometres of trails that make for memorable walks and hikes; the most famous is the aptly named Sentiero degli Dei, or Path of the Gods, which is considered one of the best coastal day walks in the world. As a walking trip newbie, I am a little unsure what to expect. One British couple we meet, Michelle and David, are on their 10th Explore Worldwide trip, many of them walking adventures, which makes me think that we are onto something. And I soon discover that walking is, without a doubt, one of the best ways to experience the Amalfi Coast.

In our late 40s, my husband and I are among the youngest in the group of 15, most of them from England. Many of the others have hiking poles and boots, which prove great for the steep terraces and terrain that can be rough, uneven and stony, as we discover on a series of walks that range from five to 13 kilometres. Our first morning walk takes us through sleepy San Lazzaro across the Agerola Plateau to the neighbouring village of Bomerano. Tackling the uphill is enough to raise the heart rate, but the pace is steady and the views are even more breathtaking. There are steep terraces, wildflowers, valleys and olive groves, combined with expanses of blue sky and cliffs creating a kaleidoscope of colourful scenery.

As we hike across a small waterway, I fall into step with Peter, our British guide, and I ask him if the views are still impressive after years of working in the area.

"I started out taking photos, so many photos. Endless photos," he says. "Now I just look because that's how you really get to see." Especially in a time of social media oversharing, too many people are seeking the perfect photo and miss what's around them, he says. I look over at a woman flicking through images on her camera, checking results, and I slip my phone into my back pocket and thank Peter for the advice.

The next day we catch a public bus to the bustling tourist port of Amalfi and head uphill to the town of Ravello. We walk past the awe-inspiring Sant'Andrea cathedral, and up hundreds of stairs high into the hinterland, where Ravello's mediaeval cobblestone streets and fragrant gardens make for a leisurely lunchtime stroll.

Ravello's main piazza, featuring an 11th-century cathedral, offers a view into village life. It's a relatively quiet scene, compared to the crowds associated with the nearby towns of Positano and Amalfi. More than five million tourists visit the Amalfi Coast each year, most during the busy season that runs from March until the end of October. In the afternoon we stop for a well-deserved swim at Amalfi's main beach, Marina Grande Beach, where rental lounges stretch to the high-tide line. While diving into the water is a welcome relief, the pebbles are hard going on the feet and the steep drop-off requires some in our group to use a well-placed rope to pull themselves from the surf to avoid the shore dump.

There are seafood restaurants behind the beach and plenty of drinks on offer but a hearty home-cooked Italian meal at the agriturismo is calling our group. That night the dining room buzzes with the excited energy of strangers bonding over a shared physical challenge and getting to know each other.

An early start the next day sees us back in Amalfi for a day trip to the small, glamorous isle of Capri which begins by ferry, taking a little over an hour. We stop along the way at the picture-perfect port of Positano. Approaching from the sea provides a stunning view of the colourful resort town with hotels and cafe terraces clinging to cliffs.

Peter has been keeping a close eye on the weather and tells us on the way back to the mainland that he is rearranging the days' walks accordingly. He's aiming for the clearest day for the highlight of the trip, the Path of the Gods, and he times it perfectly.

The scenery here is breathtaking. The ancient trail winds its way through the hills between the villages of Bomerano and Nocelle, through landscapes of lemon groves, terraced vineyards, rocky inclines and scrubby hillsides. On a clear day, you can see for kilometres. "Oh my God," says fellow Aussie Mandy as we reach the coastline to behold a view of scalloped bays and water that appears to be twinkling beneath a vast blue sky. "I think that may be the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."

The writer was a guest of Explore Worldwide.