If you’re planning to be in Germany...

If you’re planning to be in Germany between now and the end of October, you can book a “hotel room” aboard the cruise ship Europa in Cologne. The vessel is moored on the Rhine at Alter Stadt (Cologne’s Old Town). Sixty-four twin-bedded cabins with showers, toilets, air conditioning, radio/telephone. Other features: an observation lounge, a bar, reading room, swimming pool. The Europa is operated by Europe’s oldest cruise line, KD River Cruises. Another KD ship, the Elbresidenz, serves as a year-round hotel on the Elbe River in Dresden (formerly part of East Germany). Additional facilities: television, a sauna. Rates: $94 per person double occupancy, $130 for a single.

Contact Rhine Cruise Agency, 323 Geary St., San Francisco 94102, (800) 858-8587.

Booked for Travel: Book Passage (one of the West’s leading mail-order bookstores) is shipping free copies of its updated guide for fall/winter travelers. Forty pages devoted to travel books, atlases, language tapes, shopping guides, city/country guides, phrase books. One publication describes the waterways of Europe (France, England, Scotland, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands). Others deal with youth hostels, “weekends for two in Northern California,” photography, jet lag, airline/rail/freighter travel, ranch vacations, biking/hiking, camping, diving/snorkeling, travel with children, vacation rentals (the United States/Canada). A large inventory of maps and travel accessories (wallets, cushion pillows for flights, currency calculators, umbrellas, luggage). Book Passage updates its catalogue twice a year. For the latest issue, write to Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, Calif. 94925, or telephone (800) 321-9785.

A Warning to Travelers: David P. Crouch of Glendale learned the hard way how stolen documents can ruin an otherwise pleasant trip: “I learned through bitter experience to leave your checkbook register at home and take with you a brand new one with no information inside. Besides the obvious matter of not giving free information to the person who steals your checkbook, there is an even more important reason--that is, your checkbook contains information that probably exists nowhere else and is utterly irreplaceable. When my checkbook was stolen, it was five months before I knew how much money I had or what I had spent money for before the book was stolen. Warn your readers that they should not only leave all extra credit cards at home (I usually carry only one) and carry as little cash as possible--and also leave that check register at home as well.”

Personally Yours: Avis has added a new travel guide to its library of free publications titled “Personally Yours.” The latest deals with Hungary/Czechoslovakia. And it’s a honey. In a chapter titled “Down the Danube to Budapest,” it offers advice to motorists on entering the freeway after leaving the airport in Vienna. Tells where to exit for sightseeing excursions at towns en route to Budapest. Other details on freeway cafes, thermal baths. A carefully researched itinerary, beginning to end. Provides historical background on Budapest, with updates on current conditions/activities. A similarly well-researched chapter on Czechoslovakia. Names a wine cellar in Prague’s Old Town where you dine beneath huge wine barrels while a zither player grinds out romantic melodies. Avis has produced 16 guides for more than a dozen European destinations (Austria, Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland). These and others.

Copies are free to motorists booking with Avis. Your travel agent or call (800) 331-1084. Ask for the “Personally Yours” travel planner for countries you intend to visit.

Winter in the Springs: With summer at an end, vacationers are turning their attention to fall/winter destinations. To kick off the season, the Palm Springs Desert Resorts Convention & Visitors Bureau has produced a 116-page guide that lists dozens of golf/tennis facilities throughout the Coachella Valley (Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Indian Wells, Indio, La Quinta, Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs). Other information on art galleries/shopping. Attractions/activities: balloon flights, helicopter tours, carriage rides, covered-wagon tours, wilderness Jeep tours, celebrity tours, biking/riding trails, Indian canyonlands, the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, Oasis Waterpark, the Palm Springs Desert Museum. A two-page map pinpoints other attractions (Palm Springs to Indio). Pages of dining suggestions, including Cedar Creek Inn and Melvyn’s (continental), Perrina’s and Paul DiAmico’s (Italian), Eveleen’s (French), Las Casuelas (Mexican), Lyons English Grille. These restaurants are especially popular with desert dwellers.

Free copies from the Palm Springs Desert Resorts Convention & Visitors Bureau, 69-930 Highway 111, Suite 201, Rancho Mirage 92270, (619) 770-9000.

The B&B; Explosion: Another 500 B&Bs; have been added to the listing of British Travel Associates in England, Scotland, Wales. (Brings the total to 2,500 properties.) Rates: $39 per guest (add an extra $6 for London). Rooms available in hundreds of villages/cities. Reservations require 30 days in advance. Minimum stay: three days. A single call will get you bookings at any of these inns. In addition, BTA represents 71 hotels in 45 cities/towns. Rates as low as $55 per person a night, including breakfast. These are small, traditional British-style hotels. Most are near public transportation. Settings range from pastoral countryside to busy city sites.

British Travel Associates, P.O. Box 299, Elkton, Va. 22827, (800) 327-6097.

Dutch Treat: Amsterdam’s Ibis Hotel is luring vacationers with its new “Discover Holland” package: five nights at the Ibis, breakfast daily, a rental car for four days (unlimited mileage), a canal tour, transfers from the city’s Schiphol Airport, cocktails on arrival. Priced at $249 per person, based on double occupancy. A brochure suggests itineraries for tours to the Friday morning Cheese Market at Alkmaar, a visit to a flower auction at Aalsmeer (world’s largest), Haarlem for an arts showing, Rotterdam and Utrecht with its gabled houses, canals, museums.

For copies of the brochure and other details, call Resinter at (800) 221-4542.

Reader Recommendations

California--Joel and Tina Kneznekoff, Long Beach: “The High Country Inn, Box 7, Sierra City 96125. Rates: $70/$110, full breakfast included. Cross-country skiing, downhill skiing, snowmobiling just minutes away.”

California--Lois Abrams, Surfside: “Llamahall Guest Ranch Bed & Breakfast, 18170 Wards Ferry Road, Sonora, in California’s Gold Country. Rates: $95 double occupancy.”

Massachusetts--Billie Youngblood, San Marino: “Hidden Brook, 238 C.S. St., Cummington 01026. A country studio with your own deck, well-stocked kitchenette. Owners Harold and Jody Hofreiter provide freshly baked muffins, homemade bread, hearty soup on arrival. Rates: $60 double/$50 single.”

Nebraska--Robert and Sheryl Ballew, Rancho Palos Verdes: “Willow Way B&B;, Route 2, Box A-20, Osmond 68765. Rates: $30/$40.”

Brazil--Don Burnett, Beverly Hills: “Spent two perfect weeks at Copacabana Mar Hotel, Rua Ministro Viveiros de Castro 155, Rio de Janeiro. Nicely decorated rooms. TV/telephone. Walking distance to the beach. Approximately $45 per room for up to four people.”

Ireland--Ben Wyce and Ann Gardner, Los Angeles: “Glebe House, Ballinadee near Bandon and Kinsale, County Cork. A gem in a lovely setting. This is a restored rectory with gourmet food. Rates: $55 double.”

Thailand--S. Collins, Rancho Palos Verdes: “Patong B&B;, 103/10 Thaveewong Road, Patong Beach, Phuket. On a white sandy beach. Lots of warm Thai hospitality. Rates: $25/$55, including an American breakfast for two.”