Saddle Up for Trot Across Florida

Travel by horse, van, swamp buggy and boat from Jensen Beach, Fla., on the Atlantic Coast to Ft. Myers Beach on the Gulf of Mexico on nine-day trips that leave on various dates April 22-Oct. 28. Participants lodge in accommodations ranging from beachfront resorts to rural motels, and dine on local fare such as fresh seafood, frog legs and catfish. Guests ride horses with a guide across cattle ranches, dairy farms, a Seminole reservation, sugar cane fields and citrus groves. The trail boss is Gordie Peer, a cowboy historian-entertainer-naturalist who has worked with Monty Montana and Clayton Moore (“The Lone Ranger”). Guests also ride in a swamp buggy that covers wilderness back roads and takes them close to alligators and bison. There is time for bass fishing, golfing and swimming. Cost: $1,999 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, some meals, riding instruction and ground transportation. Not included: air fare to Orlando. Contact: Royal Palm Tours, P.O. Box 60079, Ft. Myers, Fla., 33906; telephone (813) 489-0344.

Asian Arts

Senior curator of Far Eastern art of Los Angeles County Museum of Art, George Kuwayama, will lead an arts tour of Vietnam, Cambodia and Hong Kong Jan. 9 for 18 days. The tour balances visits to museums, archeological and architectural sites, cities, beaches and mountains. Vietnam stops include Hanoi; Saigon; Hue, an ancient imperial city; the Pass of Clouds to Da Nang; Hoi, and the seaside town of Nha Trang. The group then flies to Cambodia to see the royal cities of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom with their enormous stoneworks, temples, shrines, palaces and royal tombs. Two nights in Hong Kong finish the trip. Cost: $6,520 per person, double occupancy, including all air fare, hotels, all meals in Vietnam and Cambodia, one dinner in Hong Kong, ground transportation and a year’s membership at LACMA. Contact: Travelways, 488 S. San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif. 90048-4185; tel. (213) 653-3993.

African Heritage

In celebration of Black History Month, an eight-day trip to Dakar, Senegal, in West Africa leaves Feb. 5. Participants will visit the island of Goree to see the “door of no return,” where slaves were held in dungeons before being shipped to the Americas. In the city of Dakar, guests will take a tour and participate in a naming ceremony in which they receive an African name. Also scheduled is a shopping trip to an outdoor market, a museum visit and lunch with a Senegalese family. Cost: $1,098 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from New York on Air Afrique, transfers, hotels, some meals and English-speaking guide. Not included: air fare to New York. Contact: Jon Haggins, Manhattan Tours, 306 W. 38th St., New York, N.Y. 10018; tel. (212) 563-2570.

Maya Ruins

An 11-day tour to explore Guatemala’s Maya ruins deep in the rain forests leaves Feb. 23. Trip leader is Dan Bruce, assistant director of the Kelowna Museum in British Columbia, who is a specialist in archeology and rain forest ecology. The trip starts at the Maya ruins of Copan and Quirigua. A riverboat journey on the Rio Pasion takes guests to the Maya sites of Petexbatun, Ceibal, Punta de Chimino, Dos Pilas and Aguateca. Participants stay in a remote jungle lodge at Punta de Chimino. At the Tikal National Park, the group explores the forest trails and more ruins. Cost: $2,434 per person, including air fare from Dallas, Tex., hotels and all meals, local guide, ground transportation, air transportation within Guatemala, lecturer, pre-trip notes and maps. Not included: air fare to Dallas. Contact: Far Horizons, P.O. Box 91900, Albuquerque, N.M. 87199-1900; tel. (800) 552-4575.

Art in New Orleans

A special exhibition from Paris of paintings by the French Impressionist Claude Monet will be in New Orleans in January, and the University of Texas is arranging a study tour Jan. 26 for four days to see it. Participants will see the “Monet: Late Paintings of Giverny” exhibition; study the art, architecture and furnishings of that era in New Orleans history by touring three private residences, and visit the studio of an artist who works in the style of Edgar Degas, a contemporary of Monet. Cost: $1,245 per person, including accommodations, some meals and services of an art historian. Not included: air fare to New Orleans. Contact: University of Texas at Austin, P.O. Box 7879, Austin, Tex. 78713; tel. (800) 882-8784.

Austrian Powder

Bundle up for the European ski season with one- and two-week ski packages this winter to Hopfgarten, Austria, in the heart of the Tyrol mountains. Packages for those age 18-35 offer a choice of accommodations, including multi-share rooms in family-run chalets. Prices for the one-week packages start at $295 per person, land only. The two-week packages with multi-share accommodations start at $495 per person, land only. Packages include daily breakfast and dinner. There’s also an additional “ski pack” available with passes to several mountain ranges, equipment rental and lessons; prices start at $229 for one-week trips, $375 for two-week stays. Contact: Contiki; tel. (800) CONTIKI (266-8454).

How Green Is My Trip

Two-week tours to see Ireland and Scotland leave weekly from Los Angeles May 4 until Oct. 5. Participants will start in Ireland and visit Dublin, Killarney, Ring of Kerry and Galway. In Northern Ireland, stops are made in Fermanagh, Giant’s Causeway (volcanic formations of basalt columns) and Ballymena. Guests then take a ferry to Scotland and visit Glasgow, Aviemore and Edinburgh. Cost: $1,862 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air from Los Angeles, hotels, daily breakfast and most meals, motor-coach transportation, entrance fees and taxes. Contact: Brendan Tours, 15137 Califa St., Van Nuys, Calif. 91411; tel. (800) 421-8446.Ski Wyoming

The Spring Creek Resort at Jackson Hole, Wyo., is offering three special packages for skiers that offer both downhill and cross-country options in an area just an hour from Yellowstone National Park. A five-day, multi-mountain package includes seven nights’ accommodations, daily breakfasts and five days of skiing at your choice of three mountains for $700 per person, double occupancy. There’s also a four-day trip for $500 per person, double occupancy, and a five-day cross-country package priced at $395 per person, double. Rates are good through Dec. 19 and after March 19. Contact: Spring Creek Resort, P.O. Box 3154, Jackson Hole, Wyo. 83001; tel. (800) 443-6139.

Aussie Wines

Five-night trips to Australia and its Hunter Valley wine region outside Sydney leave any time now until March 31. Participants take a cruise of Sydney Harbor and its famous opera house, and have a choice of one of three day trips: a vineyard tour, a horse and carriage excursion in Hunter Valley or 18 holes of golf at Cypress Lakes Country Club. Cost: $1,550 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, accommodations, breakfasts and dinners. Contact: Inta-Aussie South Pacific; tel. (800) 531-9222.

Katmandu Valley

A cultural tour to Tibet and Nepal leaves April 3 for 22 days to explore Katmandu Valley’s shrines, temples, monasteries and palaces, and meet diverse peoples such as the Tibetans, Newars, Sherpas and Tamangs. The tour will be led by research anthropologist Peter Gold, who is arranging such special activities as a private teaching session with a lama; meetings with artists, monks and doctors of folk medicine; attendance at ceremonies at monasteries, and music and dance performances. Cost: $4,895 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from San Francisco, local transportation, hotels, some meals, entrance fees and transfers. Contact: Life Enhancement Tours, 47 Forest Drive, Hillsdale, N.J. 07642; tel. (800) 548-8254. The Times is not responsible for changes in prices, dates or itineraries. These should be confirmed with cruise lines, travel agents or tour operators.