A Monumental Horse Ride

See Monument Valley in Arizona the way people did 100 years ago--on horseback. Eight-day riding trips leave on various dates May 14 through Oct. 8 from Gallup, N.M., where guests spend the first night at a motel. The next day, passengers, horses and gear will be transported across the Arizona border to the valley, which is part of the Navajo reservation.

A Navajo guide will point out monoliths, mesas and recognizable formations, such as the Mittens, Three Sisters and Totem. Guests will camp at the base of Thunderbird Mesa and members of a Navajo family will join the group for dinner and bring some of their handmade jewelry and rugs. They will also prepare Indian fry bread with butter and honey for the guests.

Daily rides will take participants past Anasazi ruins and rock walls covered with petroglyphs. A climb to Mitchell Mesa, with its view of the entire valley, is scheduled.

Cost: $1,400 per person, double occupancy, including motels on the first and last nights of trip, all meals, camping gear, horse rental and guides. Not included: transportation to New Mexico. Contact: Don Donnelly Stables, 6010 S. Kings Ranch Road, Gold Canyon, Ariz. 85219; telephone (800) 346-4403.

Moroccan Picnic

Cookbook author Kitty Morse, who was born in Casablanca, will lead a 15-day tour May 6 along Morocco’s Casbah Trail through the “Land of One Thousand Casbahs,” where the snowcapped Atlas Mountains are the backdrop to hundreds of Berber villages, or casbahs, on the edge of the Sahara.

The tour starts in Casablanca and focuses on local culture and cuisine. The imperial cities of Marrakech, Fes, Meknes and Rabat are explored. Roadside picnics, culinary demonstrations and folkloric evenings are planned.

Cost: $3,295 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from New York, hotels, most meals, guides and air-conditioned motor-coach transportation.

Contact: La Caravane Adventures in Food and Travel, P.O. Box 433, Vista, Calif. 92085. Or call Carlsbad Travel Service; tel. (800) 533-2779.

Amazon Riverboat

An eight-day tour of the Amazon River aboard a 90-foot research riverboat leaves Feb. 25 and is guided by biologist Ceal Smith of the University of Arizona. Participants start the trip flying from Miami to Iquitos, Peru. The vessel is an informal cruise ship with 17 air-conditioned cabins and five communal bathrooms.

Also on board is a naturalist who will give background on the areas visited and talk about the culture of the native peoples. From the boat, passing through Peru, Columbia and Brazil, guests may see native pink dolphins, monkeys, parrots, toucans and caimans. On jungle walks, participants will visit native villages and paddle in dugout canoes with the local children.

Cost: $1,695 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from Miami, lodging, meals and side excursions. Not included: air fare to Miami.

Contact: International Journeys; tel. (800) 622-6525.

This Side Up

When it’s winter in the Northern Hemisphere, Antarctica is warming up for the summer--so to speak. A 15-day tour of the Antarctic that leaves Dec. 27 aboard the Explorer, departs from Santiago, Chile. On the agenda are lectures and viewing of the region’s wildlife, including seals, whales and sea birds.

December is penguin-hatching month, and the expedition includes excursions to visit rookeries. The ship sails through the Drake Channel, Le Maire Channel, Neumeyer Channel, Paradise Bay, Anver and Torgesen islands and Antarctic Sound.

Cost: $4,990-$9,500 per person, double occupancy, including all meals, excursions, lodging, transfers and an expedition parka. Not included: air fare to Santiago.

Contact: Natural Habitat; tel. (800) 543-8917.

Painting France

A sketching-painting workshop in southern France and the Loire Valley leaves Los Angeles May 27 for 17 days. In southern France, participants stay in a private Mediterranean-shore chateau with an art studio, and on the Loire River they will stay at an 18th-Century Renaissance manor home.

Novice to experienced artists will sketch or paint in off-the-beaten-path villages and receive instruction from a professional artist-educator. Guest lectures, escorted visits to museums, trips to chateaux and gardens and three days in Paris in a hotel adjacent to the Louvre are on the itinerary.

Cost: from $4,950 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from Southern California, hotels, most meals, tour guide and art instruction.

Contact: The Athenaeum School of the Arts, 1008 Wall St., La Jolla, Calif. 92037; tel. (619) 454-5872.

Not Greek to Him

An 18-day tour to Greece guided by USC classics professor Dick Caldwell leaves May 5 and focuses on ancient history and culture. The tour starts in Athens with visits to the Acropolis and its corresponding museums.

Excursions are made to the islands of Crete to see the Palace of Minos and Santorini to see Akrotiri, an ancient city well preserved because it had been covered with lava after a volcano erupted. Peloponnese, Corinth, Mycenae, Olympia and Delphi are also on the itinerary.

Cost: $115 per night, per person, double occupancy, including hotels, most meals, ground transportation and guided tours. Not included: air fare to Greece and tips. Other dates and extensions to Turkey are also available.

Contact: Sporades Tours, 13101 Laurinda Way, Santa Ana, Calif. 92705; tel. (800) 695-7176.

Run for Fun

A running tour in the rolling headlands of California’s scenic North Coast leaves June 18 for six days and visits Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Point Reyes National Seashore in Marin County.

Participants run eight to 15 miles each morning, eat a picnic lunch and save the afternoons for horseback riding, kayaking, mountain biking and hiking. Accommodations are at country inns and evening meals are in local restaurants. Other dates through Oct. 22 are available.

Cost: $1,293 per person, including accommodations, all meals and snacks, equipment rentals, guides, luggage and van transportation, and complimentary T-shirt and water bottle. Not included: transportation to Northern California.

Contact: Backroads, 1516 5th St., Berkeley, Calif. 94710-1740; tel. (800) 462-2848.

Arthurian England

Two-week walking tours of ancient and Arthurian English sites and nearby historic pubs are scheduled for May, June and September. The May departure includes a dawn dance celebration at Cerne Abbas with local Morris dancers, followed by breakfast in a local pub.

The tour starts with London museums and moves on to explore Roman villas in West Sussex and the Salisbury Plains. In old Sarum, neolithic and Bronze-Age monuments, including Stonehenge and the Avebury Stone Circle are visited.

The group will retrace the steps of medieval pilgrims to Glastonbury, the supposed Avalon where Arthur and Guinevere found their final resting places. Walks are taken along the famous Cornish coast trail. Accommodations are in historic hotels and country inns.

Cost: $3,990 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, most meals and entrance fees. Not included: air fare to England.

Contact: Top Guides; tel. (800) 867-6777.

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