Romanian Melting Pot of Art and Architecture

Two 19-day tours of Romania to see the influence of Roman, Byzantine, Turkish, German and French culture on the nation’s art and architecture leave May 23 and Aug. 19. Participants will see palaces and monasteries; the outdoor frescoes of Bukovina (Northern Moldavia); old homes in Bucharest and Iasi; medieval towns such as Sighisoara, Sibiu and Brasov; paintings and sculptures by Constantin Brancusi; religious icons of glass and wood; handmade Romanian rugs, and unique archeological treasures. A visit is scheduled to Maramures in northeast Romania, an area steeped in folklore.

Cost: $2,880 per person, double occupancy, including all meals, hotels, all ground transportation, entrance fees, escorts and scheduled entertainment. Contact: Herodot Travel, 775 E. Blithedale, Mill Valley, CA 94941; telephone (415) 381-4031.

Science of Cognac

The University of California, Davis, is offering an eight-day trip to Cognac, France, during the distillation of the spirit Feb. 3-10. The trip begins and ends with a day in Paris. Visits will be arranged at leading Cognac houses. Guests also attend seminars by Cognac makers in the region, have meals at the distilleries and visit a still maker. Leading the trip will be professors Roger Boulton and Christian Butzke of the Department of Viticulture and Enology at the university.

Cost: $2,875 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, most meals and tours. Not included: air fare to France. Contact: MJK Tours, 133 S.W. 2nd Ave., Suite 220, Portland, OR 97204; tel. (800) 659-9723.

South Africa

Eleven-day tours to South Africa, available any time after Jan. 1, start in Cape Town with a museum visit, excursions to the wine country and to the Cape of Good Hope. Travelers continue to Johannesburg, the Gold Reef city, and spend three nights in Kruger Park and Londolozi Private Game Reserve. The tour leaves on various dates throughout 1996.

Cost: $3,920 per person based on eight travelers. The tour includes accommodations, transfers and guided tours, buffet breakfast, some lunches and full board in the game reserves.

A tour of the island of Mauritius is optional. Contact: Tradesco Tours, 6033 W. Century Blvd., Suite 670, Los Angeles, CA 90045; tel. (310) 649-5808.

Austrian Cooking

Learn to cook the cuisine of Vienna on a seven-day cooking-sightseeing tour of this Austrian city. Participants will attend four half-day sessions at a professional cooking school, where they learn to prepare some of the famous Viennese dishes, then dine on their own creations. They will go to Vienna’s oldest outdoor food market to purchase the ingredients. They will visit a winery in the outskirts of Vienna to taste the different wines produced there. Time will be devoted to talks on the history of the food and about the many different ways the Viennese drink their coffee.

Sightseeing includes visiting the summer residence of the imperial family, Schonbrunn Palace; a visit to the imperial table-setting museum and silver treasury at the Imperial Palace; a concert featuring music of Vienna’s favorite sons, and a visit to one of Vienna’s oldest wine taverns (Heuriger) on the outskirts for wine, local dishes and Viennese music. Tour dates are scheduled for March, April and November, 1996.

Cost: $2,425 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from New York, accommodations, most meals and sightseeing. Contact: Herzerl Tours, 355 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10017; tel. (800) 684-8488.

Dirt Biking Peru

Lotus Tours is offering a 14-day off-road dirt bike tour in Peru that follows the Pacific Coast through remote beaches and deserts before turning east and rising about 8,000 feet above sea level. The tour begins Jan. 20 from Lima and ends there two weeks later.

The tour includes a boat trip to the Ballestas Islands to see marine life. In addition, the group will fly over the gigantic Inca sand structures from the air. One night is spent camping on the sand at Punta San Fernando to watch the sea lions. Also visited are Colca Canyon, Machu Picchu, the Sacred Valley of the Inca in Urubamba and historic Cuzco.

Cost: $3,790 per person, double occupancy, including use of a dirt bike, hotels and meals. Not included: air fare to Lima, Peru. Group size is eight including the tour guide. Contact: Lotus Tours, 1644 N. Sedgwick St., Chicago, IL 60614; tel. (312) 951-0031.

Let It Snow

Experience the beauty of the wilderness under a blanket of snow on a five-day tour to northeastern Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Wilderness Area. Participants will ride through the woods along the U.S.-Canada border behind a team of sled dogs.

The winter activities are open to people of all ability levels, including people with disabilities. The wilderness area has 300-foot palisades, frozen waterfalls and plenty of snow for the winter adventurer. Guests stay in a remote wilderness lodge. From there, activities include cross-country skiing and dog sledding on the Gunflint Trail, near Boundary Water Canoe Area. Various dates are available in January, February and March.

Cost: $545 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, all meals and activities. Not included: transportation to Minnesota. Contact: Wilderness Inquiry, 1313 5th St. S.E., Box 84, Minneapolis, MN 55414; tel. (612) 379-3858.

Amazon Rain Forest

Animal behaviorist-naturalist Ralph Heller will lead an expedition through the rain forest of Peru on an eight-day adventure departing Jan. 8 from Miami. Participants will cruise down the Amazon in a private 16-passenger vessel, take walks into the jungle, view bird- and wildlife and meet people from native tribes. A five-day extension to Machu Picchu to see the Inca ruins is available.

Cost: $2,155 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Miami to Peru, all accommodations and most meals. For the Machu Picchu extension, add $680. Contact: Eden International, P.O. Box 25971, Los Angeles, CA 90025; tel. (310) 453-5365.

Blooming Alps

See the lakes, gardens and wildflowers in the Swiss and Italian Alps. Two separate, but connecting tours of the Swiss/Italian Lakes start June 15 and 26, respectively. Tour One is 13 days, with hotels in Geneva and Brienz in Switzerland and on Lakes Maggiore, Como and Lugano in Italy. It features classic and modern gardens, castles, villas and baroque palaces.

Touring is by motor coach, boats, cog-railway and funicular to reach places, such as the Villa Melzi, Giessbach Falls and the Schynige Platte Alpine garden, 6,700 feet above sea level, in the Jungfrau Range. This tour ends in Lugano, where it dovetails with Tour Two. Cost: $3,850 per person.

Tour Two is a nine-day walking tour through wildflowers and is based in Lugano in the Ticino area and Pontresina near St. Moritz in the Engadine Valley. The tour is led by Toni Fauver, an experienced Alpine hiker and author of books on California wildflowers.

Cost: $2,895 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, touring, events and most meals. Guests can sign up for both tours at a reduced price. Not included: international air fare. Contact: Ingatours, 5 The Dell, Pinner, Middx. HA 53EEW, England; tel. (800) 581-0911 (eight hours ahead) or U.S. travel agent Marilyn Emdebrant at (800) 786-5311.

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