Close Encounters in Eastern Canada

Encounter the diversity of Atlantic Canada’s plant life, from meadow to dune, woodland to subarctic plateau on a 13-day journey Oct. 1. Offered by the California Arboretum Foundation, the study tour begins in the port city of St. John, New Brunswick. Participants will visit private and historic gardens. On a walk in undisturbed hardwood forest, group members will learn to identify indigenous species. After crossing the Bay of Fundy, travelers hear about ingenious Acadian farming methods in Nova Scotia’s fruitful Annapolis Valley, homeland of Evangeline of Acadia. On pastoral Prince Edward Island, they will tour a state-of-the-art potato farm and sites made famous by the book “Anne of Green Gables.” The group will also see the birthplace of Canada in Charlottetown.

Other highlights to be explored include the scenic Cabot Trail on Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island and the living history Fortress of Louisbourg. After visiting the seaport of Halifax, participants will travel south along picturesque coastal coves and bays to Lunenburg’s Fisheries Museum, where collections showcase the region’s maritime tradition. A naturalist from the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History will serve as study leader.

Cost: $2,745 per person, double occupancy, including lodging in historic country hotels and bed-and-breakfast inns, most meals, land transportation. Group air fare from Los Angeles is $653. Contact: Learned Journeys, P.O. Box 30626, Santa Barbara, CA 93130-0626; telephone (805) 682-6191 or (800) 682-6191.

Easy Tibet

A 19-day visit to see the temples, palaces and majestic sacred mountains of Tibet leaves Sept. 1. Participants have an opportunity to visit with Tibetans in their homes. Travel guide Gary Wintz, who lived in Tibet and leads two to three groups a year, will accompany the tour. At the beginning of the trip a few days are spent in a lower altitude in the Yarlung Valley to allow a gradual adjustment to the higher elevation in Lhasa. From Lhasa, guests take numerous day trips, but always return to the same hotel.

Cost: $4,990 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from Hong Kong, accommodations, meals in China and Tibet, transfers, transportation, sightseeing admissions. Air fare from Los Angeles to Hong Kong round trip can also be added for $1,375. Contact: Carolyn Houghton, Travel Arrangers, 1194 E. Walnut St., Pasadena, CA 91101; tel. (818) 793-1466.

Sporting Chance

Vacations that focus on attending baseball games in different cities are available from Sports Tours. The tours, which run from a weekend to a week in length, offer a choice of accommodations, including stays in the same hotel as the visiting team. The four-night Longhorn Tour begins July 17, with the Royals hosting the Indians in Kansas City. At Busch Stadium guests watch St. Louis take on the Cubs; then the Braves battle Houston in the Astrodome.

Cost: from $725 per person, (four nights) double occupancy, including admissions, accommodations, transportation between ballparks via motor coach or air, welcome reception and souvenir. Air fare is not included. Contact: Sports Tours, P.O. Box 84, Hatfield, MA 01038; tel. (800) 722-7701.

Language Lessons

Learn Italian in the Mediterranean town of Chiavari, combining study with travel in the Italian Riviera. The program, which leaves from Los Angeles Aug. 3, is for three weeks. Classes at all levels are held at Studienkreis Italia. No knowledge of Italian required.

The school’s program includes local guided visits, walking tours to Cinque Terre, boat tours, deep sea diving, literature, music, politics and cooking. Optional excursions available.

Cost: $2,600 per person, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, accommodations in Chiavari, Italian classes and pre-departure orientation. Contact: Michelle O’Neill, Italian Experience, 845 Via de la Paz, Suite 7, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272; tel. (310) 459-3227.

California Wines

Unique Travel will escort a four-day cruise to see California’s wine country Oct. 18. Cruising is aboard the 84-passenger Spirit of Discovery. The itinerary will focus on the vineyards, winemaking process and underground caverns and tasting rooms of the Napa Valley and Sonoma.

Arrangements include a visit to a gravity-fed winery and a food- and wine-pairing demonstration in an 1887 winery building that is on the National Register of Historic Places. At Schramsberg, founded as a winery in 1862, the group visits scenic grounds hidden away on a hillside west of Calistoga. The tour also features some of the two miles of caverns carved by 19th century Chinese laborers.

In Sacramento, shore excursions include the California Railroad Museum, Old Sacramento, Sutter’s Fort and the State Capitol. In Sonoma, passengers tour California’s northernmost mission. The cruise also makes side excursions into the network of sloughs and rivers that crisscross the delta country east of San Francisco Bay.

Cost: from $449 per person, double occupancy, including an ocean-view cabin, all meals on board and sightseeing. Contact: Unique Travel in Calabasas; tel. (818) 880-8854.

Golden Prague

A Czech, now living in Southern California, will lead a tour to her native land, as well as Zurich, Switzerland, and Budapest, Hungary. Slated for Sept. 25 to Oct. 10, the tour begins with a rest stop and city tour of Zurich before moving on for two days to Budapest, where guests will attend a Gypsy music dinner in nearby Puzsta. The group then takes a cruise on the Danube to Bratislava, capital of the Slovak Republic, where a city tour is planned.

Participants will take a motor coach into the Czech Republic and visit the medieval town of Telc, then spend six days in Prague, visiting castles, the Charles Bridge, the Jewish cemetery, Pilsen beer factory and many quaint medieval streets. Guests also spend three nights in the spa town of Karlovy Vary and take side trips to the Karlstejn and Sternberg castles.

Cost: $3,465 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, hotels, some meals and all sightseeing.

Contact: Eva’s Tours, 27485 Paseo Mimosa, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675; tel. (714) 489-0488.

Walking Switzerland

Tre Laghi Travel offers a luxury walking tour of the Swiss Alps that will take guests from the Engadine Valley to the Matterhorn area. The eight-day Alpine Meadows excursion begins July 5 with four days outside St. Moritz in Sils-Maria. Other dates throughout the summer are available. Cable cars are used to reach mountain trails. First-class passage on the Glacier Express brings guests to Zermatt to explore forests, meadows and Alpine trails surrounding the Matterhorn. On the last full day, there’s an outing to the 12,000-foot-high glaciers of the Kleiner.

Cost: $3,520 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, all breakfasts, six dinners, excursions, luggage transport and hotel and restaurant gratuities. Air fare is not included. Contact: Tre Laghi Travel, 2627 Lombard St., San Francisco, CA 94123; tel. (800) 777-8183.

Quickie Trips

Two-night adventure getaways to Smuggler’s Ranch on Santa Cruz Island are available most weekends through October. Guests have the opportunity to kayak, mountain bike, fish, hike and experience coastal California of a century ago. Accommodations are in a quaint, two-story adobe ranch house, which was built in 1889 as part of the original island ranching operation. Also available are two small beach cottages.

Cost: $375 per person, including air transportation from Camarillo, accommodations and all meals.

Excursions to Scorpion Ranch, also on Santa Cruz Island, are run year-round. Visitors have the option of choosing either a full-service trip or a bring-your-own variety. On these, guests bring their own food and bedding, stay in the ranch house and have full use of the kitchen and barbecue. The two-night, full-service trip to Scorpion runs $325 per person and includes round-trip boat transportation from Ventura. The bring-your-own trips cost $45 to $65 per person, per night, plus $55 for round-trip boat transportation. Kayak rentals with guides cost extra. Contact: Horizons West/Guided Travel Adventures, 408 Marble Cove Way, Seal Beach, CA 90740; tel. (800) 430-2544.

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