Rambling Around the British Isles and Ireland

From Edinburgh Castle’s military tattoo to London theater performances, Maupintour offers 10 tours to England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The tours to the Emerald Isle include a banquet in a medieval castle, two nights in Dublin, evening entertainment and treasures off the beaten path. Land rates are from $1,298 for eight days to $2,498 for 15 days. A “Highlands and Islands” itinerary goes from the Channel Islands in the south to the Isle of Skye in Scotland; 16 days for $2,969. Britain by rail is a 17-day excursion on trains including the Flying Scotsman, the Line to the Isle and the Aberdonian; $3,475. A 15-day tour to Cornwall, Devon and Wales costs $2,798. Ireland, Scotland and England, 15 days, is $2,875. Prices are land only, per person double. Maupintour’s toll-free phone is (800) 255-4266.

Aussie Outback

Camping tours of the Australian Outback are offered by 4 WD Discovery Tours, P.O. Box 4, Forest Range, South Australia 5139, Australia (fax: 08 297 2310). Featured are campside meals with wine, air-conditioned vehicles and comfortable tents or hard-top accommodations. Tours, which range from four days to four weeks, can cater to families or special-request itineraries. Scheduled all-year departures head for Simpson Desert and Coongie Lake, Cooper Creek, Red Centre, the Northern Flinders Ranges, the Andamooka opal fields, the Coorong and South Coast, Victoria and beyond. One tour is a 28-day itinerary following in the footsteps of early explorers around “Australia’s Great Deserts.” It departs July 1 and costs $3,159. Air fare from the United States is extra.

Study Overseas

The American Institute for Foreign Study, now in its 25th year, has since 1964 arranged for 325,000 students, teachers and other interested adults to study abroad. Summer college-level programs are offered this year in London, Paris, the French Riviera, Moscow and Leningrad, Salzburg, Salamanca, Beijing and Sydney. Courses include business, language, writing, history, art, music and anthropology. Programs last 3 to 12 weeks. Fees include round-trip air fare from the United States, accommodations in student housing, most meals and insurance. Fees from $1,999 for three weeks at Richmond College in England to $3,739 for eight weeks at the Sorbonne in Paris. For a catalogue, write to AIFS, College Division, Department P-14, 102 Greenwich Ave., Greenwich, Conn. 06830, or phone (800) 727-AIFS.

The Kingdom of Bhutan

A tour to the kingdom of Bhutan will be led by Michael D. McClelland, chairman of the Bhutan Friendship Foundation, with arrangements by Center Travel, 11872 La Grange Ave., Los Angeles 90025, phone (213) 826-9105. The tour will begin in Katmandu, Nepal, April 30, and fly to Paro, Bhutan. Traveling by mini-van, the group will cross the Pele-La and Yotung-La Himalayan mountain passes and visit the Bumthang Valley and some of the nation’s oldest temples, including Jampa Lhakhang, dating from AD 640. Accommodations will include hotels, guest houses and a night in tents at the 12th-Century Gangteng Monastery. The 11-day tour costs $2,500, plus air fare from the United States to Nepal.