Alaska at Its Wintery Best

When it’s cold, where do your thoughts turn? A warm beach in Mexico? That’s too easy. Stare winter in the face on a seven-day adventure in Alaska Feb. 18. Participants will get to see racers at the first checkpoint and (if the timing is right) the finish line of the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest Dog Sled Race and get a chance to try some dog sledding themselves. Also scheduled is a train trip through raw wilderness and past Denali National Park. Accommodations are at a hot spring resort deep in moose and northern lights country. Cost: $899 per person, double occupancy, including lodging, some meals, transportation within Alaska and activities. Not included: air fare to Anchorage. Contact: Adventure Outdoors, P.O. Box 4461, Rolling Bay, Wash. 98061; tel. (206) 842-3189.

Ski Switzerland

An eight-day ski package, available through March 30, combines skiing and a first-class unlimited Swiss Rail Pass, so participants can ski in several areas or do some sightseeing. One night is spent in Zurich and six nights are spent at the Romantik Hotel Stern in Chur. Trains can take guests to the Davos, Klosters, Flims and St. Moritz ski areas. Cost: $846, per person, including lodging, breakfast daily and an eight-day rail pass. Not included: air fare to Switzerland. Contact: Europa Hotels and Tours, P.O. Box 1278, Woodinville, Wash. 98072; tel. (800) 826-0015.

World on a Jet

Celebrate the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo’s epic voyage on an around-the-world adventure on a private jet. For those heavy of wallet, this is a luxury tour with first-class air transportation to exotic lands on MGM Grand Air, the best hotels, gourmet banquets, and plenty of pampering and coddling. Guests leave Los Angeles April 28 and begin their 24-day journey in Beijing to visit the Forbidden City, the Great Wall and take a cocktail cruise on Kunming Lake. In Ho Chi Minh City, participants stay two nights and take a city tour before heading to Singapore to see the Empress Museum and board the Eastern and Oriental Express train to Bangkok. In Pagan, Myanmar, a few of the 5,000 Buddhist temples and shrines are explored. In Katmandu, a flight-seeing tour of the Himalayas is taken and in Istanbul the Church of St. Saviour in Chora, the Sunken Palace, the Blue Mosque and Topkapi Place are some of the sites seen. The last stop is Venice, Italy, for the requisite gondola ride through the Grand Canal and attendance at a masked ball. Cost: (you have to ask?) $29,500 per person, double occupancy, including limousine transfer from your home to the airport, air and ground transportation, hotels, meals, professional guides and entrance fees. Contact: Abercrombie & Kent, 1520 Kensington Road, Oak Brook, Ill. 60521; tel. (800) 323-7308.

Irish Eyes

The fourth annual Clancy Brothers Irish Festival Cruise sets sail for the Caribbean from Miami on Jan. 21, 1995, for a weeklong trip with ports of call in St. Martin, St. Thomas and Great Stirrup Cay. More than 30 Irish entertainers will present 40 hours of concerts and workshops aboard ship, among them the Irish Rovers (“The Unicorn” and “Wasn’t That a Party?”), Paddy Reilly (Ireland’s foremost balladeer) comedian Brendan Grace (host of a weekly TV show) and Cherish the Ladies (an all-female Irish music ensemble). Besides the festival activities, passengers on the Norway will dine on the gourmet tastes of Ireland as well as have the run of the ship’s casino, health and fitness center, spa, pools, skeet shooting and golf at sea.

Cost: from $1,399-$2,699 per person, double occupancy, depending on cabin choice, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, accommodations and meals. Contact: Irish Festival Cruises Ltd.; tel. (800) 441-4277.

South America

Visit the lands of ancient civilizations and dramatic scenery on a 24-day tour to Chile, Peru and Ecuador. The tour leaves Los Angeles April 27 and begins in Quito, Ecuador, which is 9,400 feet in the Andes. Participants will take a city tour and a bus tour to Panecillo Hill for a view of the city and mountains. Guests get a chance to shop for handmade ponchos, wall hangings, blankets and leather goods. In Santiago, Chile, stops are made at Santa Lucia Hill, a pre-Columbian museum, and the beaches and gardens of nearby Vina del Mar. In Puerto Montt in the southernmost part of Chile is the lake region with waterfalls and quaint villages to explore. Guests then fly to Lima, Peru, for tours of a pre-Inca museum and Incan ruins. In Cuzco, guests visit the city before boarding the train to see the legendary “Lost City of the Incas,” Machu Picchu. Cost: $3,894 per person, double occupancy, including all international flights, hotels, breakfast daily, some meals, guide and entrance fees. Contact: Eva’s Tours, 27485 Paseo Mimosa, San Juan Capistrano, Calif. 92675; tel. (714) 489-0488.

London Holiday

Celebrate Christmas or New Year’s or both on three tours to London that leave Dec. 22 or Dec. 28 for six days. The combination tour is 11 days. Tours leave LAX and include round-trip air on British Airways; accommodations at the Kensington Park Hotel; theater tickets to the musical “Oliver”; tours of Westminster Abbey, Tower of London and St. Paul’s Cathedral; a lunch cruise on the River Thames; shopping, and holiday festivities, including traditional lunches, dinners, teas, dances and parades. Cost: $1,675 for the Christmas trip, $1,550 for the New Year’s trip and $2,175 for the combined itinerary per person, double occupancy, including all transportation, breakfast daily and some meals, and entrance fees. Book by Nov. 15. Contact: Jerren Auble Travel Service; tel. (714) 731-8020.

No English Spoken

Be tough on yourself. Immerse yourself in Spanish and see Costa Rica at the same time on two- to four-week total immersion language programs where participants stay with a Costa Rican family. Students take lessons four hours a day and then get a chance to use their Spanish with the host family and on excursions and outings. The program runs year-round, and guests can take optional tours to the Pacific and Caribbean coasts and the San Antonio Cattle Ranch. Cost: $962 for a four-week program, including airport pickup, private room, two meals per day and daily Spanish instruction. Not included: air fare to Costa Rica and optional touring. Contact: Language Studies Enrollment Center, P.O. Box 5095, Anaheim, Calif. 92814; tel. (714) 527-2918.

California Deserts

The desert isn’t deserted. Discover the diversity of wildlife on the Sonoran and Mojave deserts on a tour to Palm Springs, Anza Borrego State Park and Joshua Tree National Monument that leaves March 20 for six days. Participants will stay at an inn and a historic guest ranch and take excursions to examine native wildflowers and one of the largest desert palm oasis, watch for bighorn sheep, golden eagles and desert tortoises, and stroll along trails used by Spanish explorers and the Butterfield Overland Stage. Cost: $1,595 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, meals, services of naturalists and motor-coach transportation. Not included: transportation to Palm Springs. Contact: Learned Journeys, P.O. Box 30626, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93130-0626; tel. (800) 682-6191.

Italy and Food

Spend gobs of time talking about, learning about and eating Italian food, and then walk it off on a nine-day walking-and-eating tour of the Tuscany area of Italy on May 22 or Sept. 11. Walks are easy and cover the Chianti region to Siena to the seaside on the Monte Argentario coast. Cost: $3,395 per person, double occupancy, including luxury hotels, most meals, vans to move luggage and guided tours. Contact: The Italian Connection, 10816-33 Ave., Edmonton, Canada T6J 3C1; tel. (403) 438-5712.

The Times is not responsible for changes in prices, dates or itineraries. These should be confirmed with cruise lines, travel agents or tour operators.