Vacationing in the countryside of Scotland is...

Vacationing in the countryside of Scotland is fast becoming popular among Americans. This year nearly 70 working farms that offer bed and breakfast to travelers are listed in a new booklet titled “Scottish Farmhouse Holidays.” Cattle, sheep, barley and wheat farms are scattered throughout Scotland, from the Isle of Lewis in the remote northern Hebrides to the outskirts of Edinburgh. Some hosts provide fishing on private lakes/ponds. Rates for a room with a full breakfast start at about $17 a night per guest. (A home-cooked evening meal will cost you an extra $8.50.)

Free booklets from the British Tourist Authority, 350 S. Figueroa St., Suite 450, Los Angeles 90071. Telephone (213) 628-3525. At the same time, ask for a copy of “Stay At An Inn,” featuring hundreds of pubs that welcome overnight guests.

Vienna for the Young

Vienna is a city that inspires romance, especially among the young. Salzamt at Rupreachtsplatz 1 is a spot to gossip, dine. Cafe Salzgries (Marc-Aurel Strabe 6) attracts the coffeehouse crowd. Both are described in a free magazine called Youth Scene Vienna. Other pages are devoted to inexpensive accommodations, public transportation, sightseeing, art/culture, shopping. Another publication lists accommodations for the young.

For free copies and additional information about Austria, contact the Austrian National Tourist Office, 11601 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 2480, Los Angeles 90025-1760. Telephone (213) 477-3332. Also ask for a copy of the “Vienna Journal Summer ‘89,” with details on music festivals/concerts, opera, the Marionette Theater, sightseeing on the Danube, night life.

Spa Guide

Spa holidays are popular with a growing number of vacationers. A company in New York is offering a slick 132-page magazine that lists 329 spas worldwide (Europe, South America, the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Asia, the Pacific). Men/women-only spas. Others for senior citizens, families, hikers, skiers, golf/tennis players, vegetarians, plus detoxification spas in the U.S./overseas. In Switzerland there’s a spa with an indoor swimming pool/ice skating rink. Another, in Italy, operates on Ischia, “The Isle of Eternal Youth.”

Write to Spa-Finders, 784 Broadway, New York 10003-4856, or call toll-free (800) ALL-SPAS. The magazine costs $4.95. It’s refundable if you book a vacation.

Summer Bargain

Mission San Luis Rey Retreat Center near Oceanside is repeating its 1988 vacation offer of room and board for two persons (Monday to Friday) for $150. The rate includes breakfast/dinner daily, tennis, swimming. The retreat covers 66 acres (rose gardens, bricked walkways, California’s oldest pepper tree). No telephones in the rooms, no TV. (A set is available in the lounge.) Mission San Luis Rey dates from 1798.

The spiritual vacation program is sponsored by the Friars of Mission San Luis Rey Retreat Center, P.O. Box 409, San Luis Rey, Calif. 92068. Call (619) 757-3659. Only selected weeks are available.

Santa Fe

You can vacation in Santa Fe, N.M., this summer for as little as $299. The package includes round-trip air from LAX, hotel for three nights, rental car, a Santa Fe information kit and a motorist’s guide. Accommodations at the Howard Johnson Plaza, Best Western, Inn of the Governors, Sheraton Santa Fe, the Inn at Loretto and La Posada. Santa Fe features galleries/plazas in the Old Town, side trips to ghost towns, Indian pueblos.

These packages are for four days/three nights, commencing Friday with a Monday return or Monday with a Thursday return. Details from your travel agent or telephone (213) 338-0332.

Travel Books

Elaine Petrocelli of Book Passage in Northern California invites readers to write for a free catalogue listing publications aimed at the traveler. Titles include “A Good Flight’s Sleep,” “Overcoming Jet Lag,” “The Traveling Photographer,” “You Can Travel Free,” “World Guide for the Jewish Traveler,” “Fielding’s Worldwide Guide to Cruises,” “Europe By Rail,” “America’s Great Golf Courses.” Petrocelli says the catalogue represents several hundred of the 40,000 titles in an inventory that features a long list of guides.

For a complimentary copy of the catalogue, write to Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, Calif. 94925, or call toll-free (800) 321-9785.

National Parks

For travelers preparing to vacation in our national parks this summer, a comprehensive catalogue with dozens of destinations is offered free by a nonprofit organization serving these parks. More than 350 titles and subjects are indexed. Besides books, the catalogue lists topographic hiking maps, river/biking guides, videotapes. Makes planning easy. The videos take in the nation--from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to Maine’s Acadia National Park.

For free copies of the catalogue, call the Park Education Center of the National Parks and Conservation Assn. toll-free at (800) NAT-PARK.

Travel Aids

Wahlstrom Travel Aids has published a new inventory describing a series of travel items: electric converter/adapter plugs, clothes steamers, hair dryers, raincoats/hats, suitcase straps to protect your luggage, shavers, money belts, underarm holsters (for valuables), immersion heaters for coffee/tea, inflatable neck pillows, spot remover, campers’ knives, first-aid kits, collapsible cups and inflatable hangers, plus other items the traveler will find useful.

This is a mail-order house. For a catalogue listing the various items/prices, send a large, self-addressed stamped envelope to Wahlstrom Travel Aids, 21225 Nashville St., Chatsworth, Calif. 91311, or telephone (818) 341-7241.

France

The bicentennial of the French Revolution is drawing large crowds, particularly to Paris. Celebrations will continue throughout the summer. The tourist office reports a keen interest by Americans in side trips to Normandy. As a result, a brochure (contains a map) has been prepared with thumbnail sketches of Rouen (capital of Upper Normandy), the Shatto of Harcourt, Honfleur (birthplace of impressionism), Deauville (with its casino and beaches) plus other towns/villages.

Send a post card to the French Government Tourist Office, 9454 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 303, Beverly Hills 90212.

Reader Recommendations

Canada--Mr. and Mrs. F. G. Harwood, Los Angeles: Praise for a B&B; operated by D.M. Zell, 3962 West 12th Ave., Vancouver V6R 2PZ, Canada. “Our private suite with superb view and well-stocked refrigerator cost $65 U.S.”

California--Joyce Davies, Toluca Lake: “Mt. Shasta Ranch B&B;, 1008 W. A. Barr Road, Mt. Shasta, Calif. 96067. Rates: $55/$85. Food was very good.”

Louisiana--Mr. and Mrs. Don Fowler, Laguna Niguel: High praise for Hillery’s restaurant, 1018 Rue Decatur, New Orleans (at the French Market). “Enjoyed dining alfresco, live jazz. Lunch and dinner prices moderate.”

England--Gladys and Bernard Leon, Agoura Hills: “In Britain we found The Severn Trow, a reconstructed 400-year-old house on Church Road, Jackfield, Ironbridge, Shropshire TF8 7ND. Our room with bath and shower was approximately $21 U.S. with a sumptuous breakfast. We highly recommend it.”

We regret that only a select few recommendations can be used. They must be brief (typewritten or printed). Only one recommendation per reader, please. Note: Recommendations will not be used unless prices and addresses are included.