Escaping the Holidays in New Mexico, Russia

If you want to avoid Aunt Agnes’ dry turkey and attaching 30,000 Christmas lights to the roof, you have a good excuse: Just tell them you’ll be away for the holidays. Here is a round-up of tours to facilitate your escape:

Mexican Holiday

Baja California Tours is offering a Day of the Dead holiday tour to Tijuana, Mexico, Nov. 1. The Mexican holiday is usually celebrated in a graveyard in the wee hours of Nov. 2. But guests for this tour leave San Diego at 9:30 a.m. and return the same day at 4:30 p.m. The fiesta includes decorating traditional altars and eating special Day of the Dead breads. Guests will visit El Lugar del Nopal, a coffeehouse and former home of a Tijuana folk artist, and tour decorated altars before eating lunch at L.A. Cetto Winery. Time is set aside for shopping for Day of the Dead toys. Maria Luisa Kaprielian, a folk art specialist from Mexico City, will host the tour.

Cost: $59 per person including a continental breakfast with “Day of the Dead” breads, lunch and motor coach transportation from San Diego. Contact: Baja California Tours, 6969 La Jolla Blvd., No. 204, La Jolla, CA 92037; tel. (619) 454-7166.

Albuquerque Lights

Join a holiday pilgrimage to Albuquerque, N.M., Dec. 21 to 28, for the traditional Spanish custom of lighting candles on Christmas Eve called Luminaria, meaning “the little fires.” To observe the thousands of candles lighted during this spectacle, the group will take a motor coach ride through Old Town Albuquerque and surrounding neighborhoods on Christmas Eve. Participants will spend two nights in Albuquerque and visit a Native American pueblo on Christmas Day. Also scheduled are one-night stays in Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nev.; Sedona and Flagstaff, Ariz.; and Santa Fe to see holiday decorations, and enjoy holiday meals and festivities.

Cost: $695 per person, double occupancy, including motor-coach transportation, hotels, some meals and events. Contact: Main Street Tours, 1751 W. Torrance Blvd., Suite N, Torrance, CA 90501; tel. (800) 300-MAIN.

Eggnog in Santa Fe

Tour northern New Mexico on Dec. 12 to 16 to see festively decorated private homes. Travelers will visit Taos and little villages to see fireplaces aglow with crackling pin~on and ponderosa and snow-capped adobe walls, and to smell the aroma of traditional freshly baked biscochitos (a cinnamon cookie from this region). Participants attend a cooking class and watch a demonstration of native pottery skills in a Pueblo Indian’s home. Members will have the opportunity to visit museums and galleries in Santa Fe, shop for holiday gifts and visit the Rio Grande Gorge Winery.

Cost: $844 per person, double occupancy: land transportation, lodging, six meals, cooking class, day trips and museum entrance. Air fare to Albuquerque is not included. Contact: Aventura Artistica, 3143 Garrison St., San Diego, CA 92106; tel. (800) 808-7352.

Hawaiian Noel

Tour the Big Island for Christmas on a weeklong tour that runs Dec. 25 to Jan. 1. The tour starts in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, where participants will stay in cabins for three nights. Guests take day excursions to view lava flows and to hike. From cabins in Kalopa State Park, the group will explore the Waipio Valley and its black sand beach. The third group of cabins are at Hapuna State Park, known for excellent snorkeling.

Cost: $645 per person, double occupancy, including all breakfasts and dinners, accommodations and island transportation. Air fare is extra. Participants should have a day pack, sturdy footwear and snorkeling gear. Contact: Crane Tours, 15101 Magnolia Blvd. Suite H-10, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403; tel. (800) 653-2545.

Christmas in Victoria

For more than 70 years, Canada’s Empress Hotel’s Old English Yuletide Celebration has re-created a traditional holiday atmosphere with carol singers, a yule log ceremony and a boar’s head procession. Guests can experience these festivities on a seven-day tour to Victoria, B.C., that begins Dec. 21. On Christmas morning, guests awaken to carolers strolling through the guest room corridors. A jester is used to announce the approach of the boar’s head procession.

Participants begin the trip in Vancouver with a two-night stay. The group then boards a ferry for the crossing to Victoria on Vancouver Island. Participants will take a sightseeing tour of the city to visit the Parliament buildings and the Royal British Columbia Museum. They will visit the Butchart Gardens to see its annual Christmas Night Illumination Display.

Cost: $1,249 per person, double occupancy including Empress Hotel accommodations, motor coach, airport transfers in Canada, 10 meals, sightseeing and baggage handling. Air fare is additional.

Contact: Corliss Tours, 436 W. Foothill Blvd., Monrovia, CA 91016; tel. (800) 456-5717.

New Year’s at Sea

Toast the New Year while on a cruise to Spain, Portugal and Morocco on a 17-day land and cruise trip. Participants will meet Dec. 27 in Madrid, and tour Toledo, Cordoba and Granada. Then the group will celebrate New Year’s Eve at Costa Del Sol and cruise the next day to Morocco to see Fes and Marrakech. They will also tour Casablanca and Rabat en route to Tangier, then recross the Strait of Gibraltar to get to Seville.

Guests will tour Lisbon, Portugal, and en route back to Madrid and the airport, the group visits the Shrine of Fatima, the Tomb of Franco cathedral (carved in the rocks) and the Escorial palace.

Cost: $1,995 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from California, hotels, ground transportation, daily buffet breakfasts, nine dinners and guided sightseeing. Contact: Prof. Joseph Jeppson, Canada College Redwood City, 4200 Farm Hill Blvd., Redwood City, CA 94061; tel. (415) 306-3249.

Easter in Russia

Cruise Tours are offering two holiday programs to Russia--one for Christmas, one for Easter. Guests participate in home-stays in Moscow so guests can meet the city’s residents as well Moscow’s museums and monuments.

The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates both holidays later than most American Christians, so travelers can still enjoy their family festivities before taking the trip. The Christmas package departs Jan. 3, with Christmas Day on Jan. 7. The Easter program departs April 23; the holiday falls on April 27.

Participants on each tour visit the Kremlin, Cathedral Square, the Armory Museum and the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, and take a shopping trip to look for antiques on Arbat Street. They also will attend one classical performance.

Participants may opt for a pre-tour package to St. Petersburg at $795 per person double occupancy. Guests visit Peter and Paul’s Fortress, St. Isaac’s Cathedral, Nevsky Prospect, Hermitage Museum, Petrovorets, with its fountains, and the Oranienbaum Palace, with Catherine the Great’s Summer Palace.

Cost: $699 for either tour, per person, double occupancy , including lodging in private homes, daily breakfast and holiday meals, guides and sightseeing. Contact: Cruise Tours Russian Holiday Tours, 2201 Pillsbury Road, Suite B-1A, Chico, CA 95926; tel. (800) 24-VOLGA.

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