Want to Be Alone? Some Hot Spots to Avoid in 1998

Most of these pages every week are devoted to helping readers answer the question, “Where to go?” But not this page, not today.

The theme of today’s column is where not to go in 1998, and when. Or--to put a friendlier spin on it--where you shouldn’t go without careful consideration ahead of time. On the dates listed below, grand events or whopping crowds (or both) are expected in locales worldwide. These are occasions that will pump up demand, crowd the streets (or hiking paths), frequently escalate prices and probably make your life uncomfortable if you’re caught unaware.

Of course, the reasons these places are crowded is that many people see a good reason for being there. You may too. So ponder these dates and ask yourself: To be there, or not to be there?

Jan. 24 to 25: The Super Bowl XXXII takes over San Diego. Especially on Saturday the 24th, the day before the big game, the city’s top hotels and restaurants will be jammed, and navigating Mission Valley, where the stadium lies, may be complicated. Expect a similar scene on game day.

Feb. 7 to 22: The Winter Olympics lay siege to Nagano, Japan, about 100 miles northwest of Tokyo. Events will be staged in Nagano (population: about 360,000) and neighboring Yamanouchi, Hakuba, Karuizawa and Nozawa Onsen. The trade paper Travel Weekly reports that 2 million visitors are expected to attend the Games--and that there are only about 16,000 hotel rooms within a half an hour’s drive of Nagano. There is, however, a bullet train between Tokyo and Nagano.

Olympic tickets and travel packages are available through Manhattan Beach-based Cartan Tours (tel. [800] 818-1998). Figure-skating events were sold out by early December.

Feb. 26: Throughout the Caribbean, islanders and tourists will be gathering to look skyward at a rare solar eclipse. The moon’s position in front of the sun is expected to create a halo-like corona effect in the darkened skies above the “zone of totality.” Cruise lines, already a prominent presence in the area, have set up programs around the event on about a dozen ships. Four of them, arrayed near Guadeloupe, will belong to Windjammer Barefoot Cruises. The Star Clipper, sailing from Antigua, also will be near Guadeloupe, and is scheduled to have aboard astronomers Alan Hale and Tom Bopp.

June 10 to July 12: The World Cup comes to France. The planet’s best national soccer teams, followed by legions of boisterous fans, will play 64 matches in Paris, Saint-Denis, a close suburb of Paris, Bordeaux, Lens, Lyons and Marseilles. The final, July 12, will be in Saint-Denis; the third-place match, July 11, at Paris’ Parc des Princes.

French tourism officials insist that the World Cup “is not like the Olympics” and that most tourism to Paris and the countryside will be unimpeded by the matches and attendant hoopla. Perhaps. But even tourism officials admit that this is the wrong year for a last-minute jaunt to France. If you’re determined to go during World Cup dates, be sure to make reservations well ahead.

Conversely, those eager to be part of World Cup doings can make inquiries through a dozen U.S. travel companies that have landed contracts as authorized tour operators for the World Cup tickets. Among them are Beverly Hills-based Primesport International (tel. [310] 277-4788, fax [310] 277-5528, New York-based Multi-Sport OMVESA (tel. [800] 307-8687, fax [718] 229-7467) and Gulliver’s Sports Travel in Vista, Calif. (tel. [760] 941-7323, fax [760] 941-2997).

July 13 to 15: San Francisco expects 50,000 conventioneers to unite this Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for the Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (a.k.a. Semicon West) convention. Visitors’ bureau officials expect them to fill about 10,000 of the city’s roughly 30,000 hotel rooms--at a time when traditional summer tourism is filling most of the others. Don’t venture into the city on these days without a reservation. (The same high hotel room demand is expected Jan. 11 to 18, during the International Air, Heating and Refrigeration Expo.)

August: Picture San Francisco again. Now, erase all the buildings. And imagine just about all San Francisco residents, over the course of August’s 31 days, driving into and tromping through Yosemite National Park. In 1997, rangers counted 721,711 visitors to Yosemite in August, making it the year’s most crowded month by a substantial margin. And August is getting busier; visitor numbers have swelled 6% since 1995. Other days to beware: the July 4 weekend, when 57,530 visitors passed through this year; and the Memorial Day weekend, when an estimated 37,200 came through. If summer is your only option for visiting Yosemite, consider September, which is about 25% slower than August; or June, which is about 33% slower.

Nov. 16 to 19: There are about 100,000 hotel rooms in Las Vegas, more than in any other U.S. city. But on these days, an estimated 210,000 conventioneers will converge on the city for Softbank Comdex, the consumer electronics conference that has become the most monstrous of the hundreds of conventions and conferences held in Las Vegas yearly.

Reynolds travels anonymously at the newspaper’s expense, accepting no special discounts or subsidized trips. He welcomes comments and suggestions, but cannot respond individually to letters and calls. Write Travel Insider, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053 or e-mail chris.reynolds@latimes.com.