Fairy Godmother Grants Viennese Ball

Prince and princess wanna-bes are invited to the Viennese Imperial Ball on a seven-day tour to Austria that leaves Dec. 27. Each New Year’s Eve at the historic Vienna Hofburg (Imperial Palace) horse-drawn carriages deliver guests into a Cinderella atmosphere of gala banqueting, music, dancing, sparkling champagne and--at midnight--entertainment provided by the singers and dancers of the Vienna Volksoper and Vienna State Opera.

Participants stay in Salzburg and Vienna. There are private, guided city tours, plus excursions to Oberndorf, Bad Gastein and Grinzing. New Year’s Day will include a concert in the Vienna Concert House and Vienna Volksoper.

Cost: $4,875 per person, double occupancy, including breakfast daily, eight dinners and one lunch, transportation by motor coach or train between Salzburg and Vienna, transfers and entrance fees. Not included: air fare to Austria. Contact: Walli Liedl, Bryan International Travel, 400 S. El Camino Real, Suite 1550, San Mateo, CA 94402; telephone (800) 234-6433.

Show Goes On

The Theater/Dance Department at El Camino College is sponsoring a 10-day trip to London and Paris Dec. 27 to see performances and tour the cities. In London, guests will attend two West End theater performances, one a musical and the other a drama or comedy.

Cost: $1,670 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare to Europe, hotels, some meals, rail aboard the Eurostar Express through the Chunnel from London to Paris and sightseeing tours in London and Paris. Contact: Joseph Bonanno, Theater/Dance Department, El Camino College, 16007 Crenshaw Blvd., Torrance, CA 90506; tel. (310) 660-3707.

Christmas in Antiquity

The Classical Alliance of Western States has organized a holiday tour of Syria, Jordan and Israel, departing Dec. 16 and returning Jan. 1. Palmyra, one of Syria’s most important archeological sites, will be the first stop. Krak des Chevaliers, a great Crusader castle, and Damascus, famous for its Islamic art and architecture, also will be visited. In Jordon, the ancient cities of Petra and Jerash will be the prime focus before the tour moves on to Israel for Christmas Eve in Bethlehem.

King Herod’s palace at Masada on the Dead Sea and Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee are other sites visited. Before returning, a New Year’s Eve celebration and a tour in Athens is planned.

Cost: $3,479 per person, double occupancy, including all air and land transportation, hotels and most meals. A five-day extension tour of Greece is available for $476. Professors Kristina and Larry Nugent of Miracosta College in Oceanside are the group leaders. Contact: Charles Smith, Classical Alliance; P.O. Box 3494, Anaheim, CA 92803; tel. (714) 956-2067.

Wildlife Down Under

A 20-day natural history tour to Australia and New Zealand sponsored by the Palm Springs Desert Museum and hosted by James Cornett, the museum’s curator of natural science, departs Oct. 29. An optional two-day extension to Tahiti is available.

From Sydney to Heron Island and Lamington National Park, participants will see Australia’s marsupials such as Tasmanian devils and tiny wallabies, in addition to monotremes such as spiny anteaters and duckbill platypuses at the Taronga Zoo. Koalas and wombats will be seen at a wildlife reserve. Six-foot-high giant termite mounds, kangaroos and flocks of sulfur-crested cockatoos will be seen while driving through Queensland. At Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef, there will be time to examine tide pools with coral formations, tiny creatures and an array of sea birds.

In New Zealand, birds found only in the Southern Hemisphere will be of interest. A field trip on the South Island will feature prehistoric rock art and discussions of the cultural significance of the extinct giant moa. During a cruise in North Island’s historic Bay of Islands, participants will spot northern blue penguins, Australasian gannets and giant petrels. A Maori guide will share legends and traditions of Polynesia’s cultural heritage. Accommodations will be in a mountain lodge, an island resort and hotels.

Cost: $3,899 per person, double occupancy, including hotels; transportation by motor coach, helicopter, boat; some meals, and tours. Not included: international air fare. Extension to Tahiti is $655 including air fare. Contact: Learned Journeys, P.O. Box 30626, Santa Barbara, CA 93130; tel. (800) 682-6191.

Christmas Markets

A 10-day tour of Germany’s Christmas markets leaves Nov. 30. Starting in Berlin for museum visits, the tour moves on to Dresden, which is being restored to its pre-World War II state. Guests visit the Zwinger Palace and the nearby Meissen Porcelain factory for bargains; stop in Nurnberg for an immersion in the Christmas Market under the Frauenkirche, and follow the Romantic Road to Rothenburg for the Christmas shop of Kaethe Wohlfahrt with its handmade ornaments and decorated Christmas trees. Salzburg and the “Silent Night” chapel of Oberndorf are visited. The tour ends in Munich to with a stop at market.

Cost: $2,873 per person, double occupancy, including air transportation from New York on Lufthansa, breakfast daily and most dinners, motor coach, guides and all baggage handling. Contact ETT Tours Inc., 198 E. Boston Post Road, Mamaroneck, NY 10543; tel. (800) 551-2085.

African Safari

A 14-day game-viewing safari in Kenya leaves on various dates in November and December. Tour includes hotels and lodges such as the Nairobi Safari Club, Aberdare Mountain Lodge, Shaba Lodge, Mt. Kenya Safari Club, Lake Nakuru Lodge and Mara Sopa Lodge in the Masai Mara. Also included are breakfast and dinner daily in Nairobi and all meals elsewhere. There will be a farewell dinner in a Kenyan home. Game-viewing via safari buses.

Cost: $2,895 per person double, including air fare from New York. Contact: Sita World Travel, 8127 San Fernando Road, Sun Valley, CA 91352; tel. (800) 421-5643.

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