Hot-Air Balloon Fest and Southwest Cuisine

Aventura Artistica is offering “Feasting Your Way Through the Sangre de Cristos” Oct. 6 to 11, a tour of New Mexico that includes a day to enjoy a hot-air balloon festival.

Planned are wining and dining experiences in unusual locales such as a restaurant with a panoramic view of the Rio Grande and at an American Indian pueblo. Guests will meet chefs and caterers, attend a cooking class at a Southwestern cooking school and visit wineries. Also planned is Albuquerque’s International Hot Air Fiesta and a private Spanish folk music performance at the governor’s mansion in Santa Fe.

Cost: $650 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, most meals, entrance fees and guides. Air fare is extra.

Contact: Aventura Artistica, 151 Sherry Lane, Del Mar, CA 92014; telephone (619) 350-9321.

Peru and Bolivia

Southern Connections Tours is offering two colorful Andean folk festivals, the Inti Raymi (Sun Festival) in Cuzco, Peru, and the Aymaran New Year in Bolivia, on a tour running June 18 to 26. The tour begins with a visit to La Paz, Bolivia, then two nights on the shores of Lake Titicaca. There are stops at Kalauta Island to enjoy an Andean picnic, the cultural complex in Huatajata, and Sun and Moon Island for an evening at an observatory.

Guests will continue on to Cuzco for three nights, visiting the ruins of Machu Picchu as well as attending Inti Raymi of the Incas on June 24. The last day is spent in Lima, with a city tour and a visit to the National Archeological Museum.

Cost: $1,525 per person, double occupancy, including hotel accommodations, all transfers and sightseeing with a bilingual guide, tickets to both festivals, 15 meals and all hotel taxes. Air fare is additional.

Contact: Southern Connections Tours; tel. (800) 635-3303.

English-Irish Theater

“The London Season and the Dublin Theatre Festival” will be the focus of a TheaTours’ trip running Oct. 6 to 20.

Participants will attend theater performances in London and Dublin, Ireland. They will meet critics, actors, directors and authors. The tour includes a visit to Connemara and Galway City in Ireland.

Cost: $3,898 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from London to Dublin, hotels, full English/Irish breakfast daily, tickets to eight plays or musicals, motor coach transportation, transfers, opening and closing night dinner parties and theater-oriented tours of both cities. Air fare to Europe is not included.

Contact: Michael Hoffer, Wanderlust Travel; tel. (213) 461-3838.

Heights of Himalayas

A hiking trek is being offered from Oct. 12 to 30 in the Mustang region in northern Nepal, through terrain similar to neighboring Tibet. Guests will view the Himalayas from the north as well as trek onto the Tibetan Plateau. Highest elevation reached is 12,900 feet. On the trek, guests will visit several ancient monasteries and hike through the Kali Gandaki Gorge.

After taking in the sights in Katmandu, the group will fly to Jomsom and head north toward the Nepal-Tibetan border. The hike continues through Chele, Gelling, Charung and Lo Manthang, the capital of Mustang. Participants must be in good physical condition.

Cost: $2,695 per person, including hotels in Katmandu and a one-day sightseeing tour in the Katmandu Valley. Also included are guides, Sherpas, cooks, porters, trekking permits, all meals while hiking, trekking equipment (including two-person tents and kerosene stoves) flights to Jomsom from Pokhara and airport transfers. International air fare is not included.

Contact: Andrea Wulfing, P.O. Box 1711, Nederland, CO 80466; tel. (303) 258-3331.

Walking Italy

Tre Laghi, a tour operator that specializes in walking trips, is offering four eight-day programs (in May, July, August and September) to Lugano, Como and Piano lakes on the Swiss-Italian border. Participants walk through the gardens of the many villas that dot the shorelines of these lakes. They will also take cable cars into the nearby mountains. One day starts with a boat ride to a tiny fishing village; then there’s a walk on narrow paths to lunch at a local restaurant.

These trips are kept to a maximum of 14 people, and are accessible to anyone who enjoys walking. Daily walks average about eight miles. All accommodations are at lake-side hotels. The trip starts in Lugano, Switzerland, which is reachable by train from both Zurich and Milan airports.

Cost: $3,180 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, sightseeing and some meals. Air fare is extra.

Contact: Tre Laghi Tours, 7230 S.E. 113th Ave., Portland, OR 97266; tel. (800) 293-1117.

Van Gogh Country

A 10-day photography tour through the Netherlands and France will follow in the footsteps of the painter Vincent van Gogh. The tour runs July 29 to Aug. 7. Stops are made in Amsterdam and in France: Paris, Auvers-sur-Oise, Avignon, Arles, St.-Remy de Provence and Nice. The tour will be led by photographer Patricia Bognar.

Cost: $2,895 per person, double occupancy, including ground transportation, hotels, some meals and sightseeing. Air fare is not included.

Contact: The Avid Traveler, P.O. Box 82510, Portland, OR 97282-0510; tel. (503) 236-0804 or (800) 598-8373.

Good Greece

UET’s annual 21-day tour “The Best of Greece” will leave Los Angeles on June 8, led by Jenny Christensen on her fifth journey through the country. The itinerary is designed for travelers who want to combine exploration of ancient sites with modern Greek life and outstanding cuisine. Starting from Athens, the group proceeds to Delphi and down to the Peloponnesus, with visits to Olympia, Pylos, Byzantine Mystras and Sparta. In Mycenae, the group will see the ruins of King Agamemnon’s kingdom.

After stops at Epidaurus and Corinthos, participants then fly to Heraklion on the island of Crete to see the ancient palaces of Cnossus. Also scheduled are stops at the village of Fodele and the lovely harbor city of Rethymnon. A cruise through the Aegaen Sea will bring tour members to the trip’s final destination--the island of Santorini, whose black volcanic cliffs are crowned with hundreds of whitewashed buildings.

Cost: $3,445 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from Los Angeles, first-class hotel accommodations, daily breakfast and seven dinners, transportation by private motor coach, all domestic flights and cruises in Greece, entrance fees to listed sights and museums, professional Greek guides and all tips and service fees.

Contact: UET-University Educational Travel; tel. (800) 525-0525.

Yellowstone Wildlife

Join the Los Angeles Zoo and Living Desert Docents on an eight-day trip with opportunities for close-up wildlife viewing. “Bears and Wolves of Yellowstone” runs June 13 to 20. The trip is arranged by Off the Beaten Path.

Cost: $1,495 per person, including accommodations, all meals, a naturalist-guide, sightseeing and hiking opportunities, and a final day in Bozeman, Mont. Group air fare is available from L.A.

Contact: Carol Rochlin, Anderson Travel, 74-930 U.S. Highway 111, Indian Wells, CA 92210-7117; tel. (800) 243-6011.

Evolution Journey

A natural history expedition to the Galapagos Islands runs Aug. 2 to 10. Travelers spend three nights in Quito, with two full-day excursions to the Otavalo Indian Market and Cotopaxi National Park. Then it’s on to the Galapagos Islands for a four-night cruise aboard the 110-foot Coral Yacht, with stops on the islands of Bartolome, Isabela, Fernandina, San Salvador, Rabida and Santa Cruz. Daily activities allow guests to catch a glimpse of prehistory as giant tortoises and dragon-like land and marine iguanas crawl over black, sun-heated lava. Diverse bird life includes blue-footed boobies, albatrosses, penguins, frigates and flightless cormorants.

Cost: $3,445 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from Los Angeles, most meals, tour and cruise orientation lectures, and naturalist guides.

Contact: Jeanne King at the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Assn., 5333 Zoo Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90027; tel. (213) 664-1100, Ext. 392.

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