Various Gouda Reasons to Visit the Netherlands

Tiptoe through the Netherlands at tulip time on nine-day tours that leave April 12, 19, 26 and May 3. The group will stop at the Aalsmeer Flower Auction, where millions of flowers are sold.

Participants also visit Madurodam, a miniature Dutch village blooming with thousands of dwarf tulips; Keukenhof Gardens, a 70-acre park; the Royal Delft pottery factory; a canal cruise; the 16th-Century town of Gouda, home of the famous cheese; the Hague’s Mauritshuis, a 17th-Century mansion with a collection of paintings by the Dutch masters, and the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam.

Cost: $2,985 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from New York, hotels, 14 meals, sightseeing fees and guide. Not included: air fare to New York. Contact: William D. Buckman’s Travel Time, 203 N. Wabash Ave. Chicago, Ill. 60601; tel. (800) 621-4725.

Ready, March

Walk for your supper on an eight-day inn-to-inn tour of England’s Lake District that leaves May 6. The walks through valleys and hills are five to 11 miles each day with ascents of 600 to 1,400 feet. A minivan carries all the luggage to the country inns. Some sightseeing is also by minibus.

The first stop is the medieval village of Cartmel. Then it’s on to the Lakeland mountains, the Betheca Moor and Hill Top Farm in Near Sawrey, where Beatrix Potter lived. Participants will walk down to the sea at Ravenglass and across rolling pastures to the medieval Muncaster Castle. The footsteps of Wordsworth are followed along Loughrigg Terrace for a view of Grasmere Lake, the inspiration for many of his poems. A steamer cruise and steam railway ride are taken.

Cost: $1,595 per person, double occupancy, including inns, all meals, admission fees, guides and ground transportation. Not included: transfers and air fare to Manchester, England. Contact: English Lakeland Ramblers, 18 Stuyvesant Oval No. 1A, New York, N.Y. 10009; tel. (800) 724-8801.

Touchy-Feely Japan

The Textile Museum in Washington, D.C., has set up a study tour to Japan May 22 to visit national shrines and weaving collections as well as small villages to meet artisans and watch papermaking, hand-weaving and pottery making.

The tour is 15 days and stops at Tokyo, Nagoya, Kurashiki, Izumo, Matsue and Kyoto. Participants will visit the Toro Archeological site and see the works of late National Living Treasures at Serizawa Memorial Art Museum in Shizuoka. A performance of the classic “Takigi Noh” under torchlight at Heian-jingu Shrine in Kyoto will be given.

Cost: $6,850 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from San Francisco or Los Angeles, hotels, daily breakfast and some meals, entrance fees and guide. Contact: Ishimoto Tours, 210 Post St., Suite 1102, San Francisco, Calif. 94108; tel. (415) 781-4350.

London Theatah

The Laguna Playhouse is planning a 10-day theater tour to London and Paris May 5. Participants will see one play and one musical in the West End and a performance at the Royal National Theater. A dinner is planned at The Ivy, a restored theatrical restaurant built in the ‘30s that is one of London’s theatrical in spots.

Guests will travel to Paris via the new Channel Tunnel to tour Monet’s garden at Giverny, visit the Musee D’Orsay, the Louvre and have dinner on the Seine River aboard an entertainment boat. A performance of “The Marriage of Figaro” at the Opera Bastille is planned. Participants will have several chances to meet with theatrical artists involved in the productions they will be seeing.

Cost: $3,995 per person, double occupancy, including tax-deductible contribution to the nonprofit Laguna Playhouse, round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, hotels, daily breakfast, some meals, performance tickets and entrance fees, and private motor-coach transportation. Not included: Channel Tunnel fare. Contact: Steve Diamond, (714) 759-0647.

Snowy Yosemite

Stay cozy and warm while watching chefs from Bay Area restaurants give cooking demonstrations at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park for four days Jan. 22. Participants take Amtrak and a motor coach to Yosemite, and stay at either the moderately priced Yosemite Lodge or the deluxe Ahwahnee Hotel.

Chefs give daily demonstrations at the Ahwahnee. Guests have time to take an optional Yosemite Valley tram tour or go skiing at Badger Pass. The last night is a lavish banquet created by a guest chef in the Ahwahnee dining room.

Cost: $369 (Yosemite Lodge) or $499 (Ahwahnee Hotel) per person, double occupancy, including Amtrak train fare, motor coach transportation, cooking demonstrations and farewell banquet. Not included: meals. Contact: California Discovery Tours, P.O. Box 1677, San Juan Capistrano, Calif. 92693; tel. (800) 338-3222.

Portugal Pilgrimage

Four eight-day tours to Fatima, the celebrated Catholic shrine in Portugal, are set for May 11, July 11, Sept. 10 and Oct. 10. In Fatima, participants tour the shrine with its Basilica, Chapel of the Apparitions and the Miraculous Fountain; visit the homes of three children who first saw the visions of the Virgin Mary in 1917, and take in the Way of the Cross, an outdoor version of the stations of the cross built by Hungarian refugees during World War II. The group will attend Mass at the Miracle of the Bleeding Host in the town of Santarem before flying out of Lisbon.

Cost: $1,299 May, September and October, $1,399 in July, per person, double occupancy, including air fare from Newark, N.J., hotel, all meals, motor-coach transportation, guide and spiritual director, sightseeing and baggage handling. Not included: air fare to Newark. Contact: Regina Tours, 401 South St., No. 4B, Chardon, Ohio 44024; tel. (800) 228-4654.

Wine Country

Spend a fall 1995 weekend harvesting and crushing wine grapes in Sonoma County, then return for another weekend in the spring (May dates not known yet) to bottle the wine and affix personal made-by-me labels.

The owners of Hope-Bosworth House and Hope-Merrill House Bed and Breakfast Inns in the Alexander Valley are taking reservations for Sept. 10 or Sept. 13. The package includes four nights lodging at the B&Bs;, two in the fall and two in the spring; breakfasts and wine receptions, two gourmet picnics, two alfresco country-style barbecues and private winery tours. Participants pick the grapes, stomp and press them, and bottle and label the wines.

Cost: $795 per couple (single is the same price, so you might as well take a friend--or your spouse) for both trips. Not included: transportation to Sonoma County. Contact: Hope-Merrill House, P.O. Box 42, Geyserville, Calif. 95441; tel. (800) 825-4233.

Authentic Brazil

A 13-day trip to the northeast region of Brazil leaves March 19 to visit tropical beaches, attend folk fairs, go boating where dolphins follow alongside and dance to Brazilian sambas. A former Peace Corp volunteer who also lived in Brazil for several years, Deborah Ackema, will guide the tour. Participants visit Recife, the small town of Caruaru, historic Olinda, the island of Fernando de Noronha and Porto de Galinhas, a beach town.

Cost: $2,825 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles via Miami, airport transfers, hotels and some meals. Contact: Deborah Ackema, 1812 Overland Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. 90025; tel. (310) 470-9923.

Roll on, Amazon

Cruise both the Brazilian and Peruvian sections of the Amazon River in 12-day cruise/tours Jan. 24, Feb. 21, March 7, Sept. 26, Oct. 24 and Nov. 21. At various times during the journey, travelers will get around by luxury cruise ship, yacht, canoe, speedboat and on foot. Groups will be accompanied by tour managers in addition to local naturalists, guides and biologists.

Cost: $3,295 per person, double occupancy, including all sightseeing excursions, accommodations, three meals a day, gala welcome and farewell dinner parties, taxes and gratuities. Each tour is limited to 25 people. Lengthier trips are also available. Not included: international air fare. Contact: Travcoa, 2350 S.E. Bristol St., Newport Beach, Calif. 92660; tel. (800) 992-2003.

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