Live Chamber Music on a Rafting Journey

The Alternative Adventure Co. is offering two “Classical Musical River Journeys” this summer accompanied by four to five members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The first trip runs June 7 to 13 on the Delores River in Colorado. The second trip is July 25 to Aug. 1 on the Green River in Utah.

After a daylong white-water river journey exploring canyons, rivers, wildlife and Anasazi ruins, the group will relax in the sun or under the stars while intimate chamber music performances are given. The musicians will play the viola, violin, cello, flute and guitars. The alpine forests and sandstone canyons are concert-hall-like settings for the works of Bach, Handel, Beethoven and Ravel. Both trips include transportation to the river launch sites from Grand Junction, Colo.

Cost: $1,660 per person for the June trip and $1,705 for the July trip, including all meals, all camping equipment, guides and concerts.

Contact: The Alternative Adventure Co./Mirassol Vacations Inc., 2200 Lakeshore Blvd. West, Suite 101, Toronto, Ont. M8V 1A4; telephone (416) 698-2443 or (888) 288-8379.

Dances With Israel

Learn belly dancing and other forms of Middle Eastern dance in Israel from Oct. 17 to 26.

The dance camp is based at a kibbutz guest house near the Sea of Galilee. The trip offers students a chance to study intensely, meet other dancers, relax and sightsee.

Activities include a full-day sightseeing tour of Jerusalem; a guided tour of the kibbutz archeology museum; afternoons at Hammat Gader ancient hot springs, the beach at the Sea of Galilee and in Tiberias; and a grand finale show performed by instructors and students. At the end of dance camp, the group will spend two days in Tel Aviv.

The program is open to novices as well as experienced dancers.

Cost: $1,700 per person, double occupancy, including airport transfers and ground transportation, accommodations, three meals a day while at the kibbutz, breakfasts and dinners in Tel Aviv, all classes, shows and sightseeing. Air fare is not included.

Contact: Joan Kafri at (505) 983-7725 or Joanna Ipiotis at Wings Travel Center, (800) 477-9464.

Ski Mammoth

Go spring skiing at Mammoth Mountain, April 24 to 26, and leave the driving to a touring bus outfitted with refreshments and ski movies. After skiing there will be a barbecue party at the Midlodge, snow volleyball and a happy hour. Transportation between lodging and the ski area also is provided.

Cost: $199 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip transportation; lodging in condominiums with a fireplace, kitchen and Jacuzzi; and a two-day lift pass. Equipment rental is not included.

Contact: David Mazor, Pacific Sports Tours, 212 Yacht Club Way, Suite A-7, Redondo Beach, CA 90277; tel. (310) 798-1234.

Literary Ireland

Follow in the footsteps of James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, and Seamus Heaney on a three-week creative writing study tour that begins June 8 in Dublin, Ireland. Lectures focus on Ireland’s literary history through a tour of Trinity College with its treasured “Book of Kells”; the Dublin Writer’s Museum; the Joycean Centre; and St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which houses the tomb of Jonathan Swift.

A tour will be taken of gardens that surround renovated castles, elegantly restored manors and nostalgic thatched-roof cottages.

Guests experience Ireland’s Celtic history with a visit to the National Museum; and a day trip to West Meath offers those interested in the mythology of the ancients a chance to view cave drawings and tombs.

Also included is a three-day, two-night excursion to Galway, where guests can partake of the best in Irish music in the local pub scene and visit some of the most stunning sights in the country.

Cost: $2,599 per person, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles to Dublin, airport transfers, accommodations, daily continental breakfast and dinner while in Dublin, bus and suburban rail pass for Dublin, applicable entrance fees, and medical and travel insurance.

Contact: International Education Program, 770 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90017; tel. (213) 891-2282.

Hot Volcanoes

Indonesia is one of the most volcanically active regions on Earth, and Volcano Tours will offer two excursions in 1998 (June 11 to 23 and Aug. 13 to 25). Participants will begin with a boat tour of the Krakatau Islands, which are remaining fragments of the great volcano that exploded in 1883 in the Sunda Straits. The Indonesian tour also includes a visit to the currently erupting Merapi on Java, the Dieng Plateau, and the Batur and Agung volcanoes on the island of Bali.

Cost: $3,675 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, meals, sightseeing and ground transportation. Air fare is additional.

Contact: Volcano Tours, 7 Wildflower Road, Barrington, RI 02806; tel. (401) 247-0038.

Cool Arctic

An eight-day, seven-night cruise in Hudson Bay to view birds, walruses, whales and, hopefully, polar bears and caribou, is among Marine Expeditions’ array of far north and far south tours. The excursion July 28 to Aug. 4 begins and ends in Ottawa. Stops include Churchill, Inuit villages at Kingait and Lake Harbour, bird sanctuaries at McConnell River and the Bay of God’s Mercy, and Walrus and Coats Islands. Guests cruise on the 120-passenger Marine Discovery.

Cost: $1,795 per person, quad, to $3,295, twin, depending on cabin. Included are all shipboard meals, shore excursions and round-trip air fare from New York to Ottawa. Contact: Marine Expeditions; tel. (800) 263-9147 or (416) 964-9069.

Diving Belize

Dive in the water that Jacques Cousteau made famous in the barrier reefs of Belize. The tour runs June 20 to 27 and is guided by Robert Shaw, a diving expert from Key Biscayne, Fla. Guests will stay at Lighthouse Reef Resort, which has its own airport landing strip, and from the resort, divers will make 17 dives, including night dives.

Cost: $1,795 per person, double occupancy, including charter flight from Belize City, accommodations and meals. Tanks are provided. Air fare to Belize is not included.

Contact: GG Tours; tel. (800) 475-0004.

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