TRAVEL INSIDER : Here’s One World Tour Where the Price Is Right : Tourism: Foreign and U.S. tourist offices can be bountiful sources of free information for travelers planning trips overseas or even out-of-state.

They are little-noted and seldom celebrated, but along the length of Wilshire Boulevard stand more than 20 U.S. and foreign government tourism offices. Unlike the inhabitants of Washington’s famed Embassy Row, they’re open to the public during weekday working hours and they’re in business to inform and entice us. Right now, with vacation season heating up and travel decisions hanging in the balance, those offices are a bargain destination in themselves.

On an unannounced tour a few days ago, I explored the neighborhood where most of those offices are concentrated, a stretch of three blocks on Wilshire between Vermont and Western avenues. In the end--which came not quite three hours after the beginning--I came away laden with literature from a dozen nations.

Hawaii had the most literature; Indonesia, the most oppressive office; Korea, the best free stuff, and India, the most efficient service.

The offices do much of their work by mail and phone, and they’re closed on weekends. But on any weekday they make an entertaining and educational trip, yielding advance intelligence to those wondering where to travel next, offering diversion to those who can’t afford that luxury. Any reader with a few open hours on a weekday morning--or a phone and a mailbox--can do it.

For those considering the mail, all the addresses below are in Los Angeles, ZIP code 90010. Potential pedestrians should note that many of the offices are in the three 12-story towers that make up Central Plaza. Expect temperamental elevators. The offices are listed in the order that a walker might come upon them, strolling east to west.

The itinerary:

Korea National Tourism Office (3435 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 350, 213-382-3435; open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-12 p.m., 1-5 p.m.): An embarrassment of pitches. Postcards, maps of the country and the capital. A 140-page Korea Travel Manual filled with city scenes, public transportation schedules and hotel addresses. Best of all: “Beautiful Korea,” a collection of prize-winning photographs and posters published before the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. A sturdy, colorful bag to carry it all in, too.

Tourism Authority of Thailand (3440 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1101, 213-382-2353; open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.): Brochures on shopping, golfing, diving and the fruits of Thailand (“beginning in May, and extending through August, the legendary durian announces its presence in Thai markets with a distinctive, highly pervasive aroma . . . “). A schedule of events. An ad for the Samphran Elephant Ground and Zoo. No mention of recent unrest.

Cayman Islands Department of Tourism (3440 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1202, 213-738-1968; open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.): Three dozen hotel and tour pamphlets on the racks, and sales representative Cynthia Rodriguez standing by with facts. Much of the freshwater used by the two Cayman Islands, for instance, comes from a desalination plant. Highlight from the literature: an ad for the Cracked Conch restaurant featuring comedian Jonathan Winters and a mounted marlin.

Barbados Board of Tourism (3440 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1215, 213-380-2198 or 800-221-9831; open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.): Representative Don McCarthy was up in a flash, recommending the floor show at The Plantation (limbo dancing) and offering observations on various hotels. Among the giveaways: a 16-page illustrated booklet featuring an explanation of the annual Crop Over Festival (in July and August, at completion of the sugar cane harvest). And for those who mix business and pleasure, a pamphlet pointing out that data entry may cost your company less in Barbardos. One reason: Local laborers earn as little as $75 weekly.

Jamaica Tourist Board (3440 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1207, 213-384-1123 or 800-421-8206; open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.): In these brochures, more hard facts than usual mingle with the usual adjectives and azure seas. Readers learn that Jamaican tourism was up 8.4% in 1991, that the 1992 Reggae Sunsplash music festival will run Aug. 3-8, that the menu of Evita’s in Ocho Rios includes Rasta Pasta.

Hawaii Visitors Bureau (3440 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 502, 213-385-5301; open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4:45 p.m.): It had everything but sand. There was Hawaiian music tinkling in the background. There were walls lined floor to ceiling with brochures. Information specialist Shana Kawailani Silva explained that brochures were organized by island, offered a plastic bag, pointed out a calendar of events, restaurant guide and accommodation guide. Only the lei was missing.

Bahamas Tourist Office (3450 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 208, 213-385-0033; open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.): Blue seas, blue skies, bright bikinis and happy adjectives on all sides--standard Caribbean fare, except perhaps for the four-foot-long iguanas advertised on the isle of Exuma. Celebrity-on-vacation photos in the literature: the late British comedian Benny Hill on holiday (he died in April at age 67) and Church of England envoy Terry Waite, enjoying a complimentary post-captivity holiday with his wife in Nassau.

Indonesia Tourist Promotion Office (3457 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 104, 213-387-2078; open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1-5 p.m.): I was no more than five steps off the street when a security guard looked up from his multiple monitors, demanded my driver’s license and unsmilingly issued me a mandatory guest ID card. Inside, cold stares from other patrons greeted me at the brochure rack. The assistant who met me was polite enough, but it was still the least inviting experience of the day. There were lots of maps in the literature, and an introduction to local flora and fauna--from Bunga Jeumpa (a yellow flower) to Tenggaring (a termite-resistant tree).

Virgin Islands Division of Tourism (3460 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 412, 213-739-0138; open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.): This is an office that knows the local market. Alongside the map, the 104-page color vacation handbook and the island newsletters, the U.S. Virgin Islands marketers offer a 30-page, detail-rich “film/TV location manual.” Those who shoot in the islands need not worry about trade unions, local licenses or script censorship, the manual notes.

India Tourist Office (3550 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 204, 213-380-8855; open Monday-Friday, 8:45 a.m.-5 p.m.): She seemed a little embarrassed by the stuffed leopard in the corner, but the woman at the counter was flawless in her promotional work. She noted monsoon season (June to September), and offered maps and advice on which cities made sensible trip combinations, pamphlets on temples in Khajuraho, beaches in Goa and so on. The pamphlet pages showed timeless structures, gleaming jewelry and flowing robes; no celebrities on vacation.

Argentine Tourism Office (3550 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1450, 213-736-5232; open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.): Uncarpeted and stark, the place felt like an airline counter. I was asked to have a seat and wait (during which time a stranger asked me to arrange a dinner for him and the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles), and was then presented a plastic bag and sent on my way, no questions invited. The literature in the bag, to be fair, did answer plenty, offering overviews of Argentine history, economics, demographics, present politics and trout fishing in Tierra del Fuego. A picture book offered views of glaciers, vineyards, sandy beaches, silver-encrusted saddles and tango dancers.

Philippines Tourist Information Center (3660 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 216, 213-487-4527; open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m-12 p.m. and 1-5 p.m.): Terraced farms, suckling pigs, sandy beaches and golf courses, and a map showing not quite all of the archipelago nation’s 7,107 islands--they were all pictured in literature stuffed in my elegant freebie bag. There wasn’t much on politics, but there was a sheaf of application papers for foreign nationals interested in retiring to the Philippines, and a photo of a temple in “an upscale subdivision in the hills surrounding Cebu City.” The name of this subdivision: Beverly Hills.