Satisfying a Yen for a Ride Down the Yangtze River

A 12-day trip to China that includes a three-day cruise on the Yangtze River leaves Nov. 11. Group members will visit Beijing to see the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven, the Great Wall, the terra-cotta army in Xi’an and Shanghai. Participants will also attend a Beijing Opera performance and a Tang Dynasty show.

Cost: $2,699 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, three flights within China, hotels, all meals, cruise and entrance fees for attractions.

Contact: Ruth Sorge of Irvine Senior Travelers; telephone (949) 559-6137.

China: Photography

A 16-day photography tour of China will take guests to Beijing to see palaces, royal temples, gardens and ruins; Shanghai; Suchow, with houses and gardens nestled along an ancient canal; Guilin, located on the River Li, surrounded by unique limestone mountains; and Mt. Hua Shan, known for its scenery and the 1,000-year-old villages that skirt its foothills.

The tour will be led by photographers Steve Anchell and Dennis Chin, who was raised in Shanghai.

Cost: $4,250 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, ground transportation, lodging and most meals.

Contact: Santa Fe Workshops, P.O. Box 9916, Santa Fe, NM 87504; tel. (505) 983-1400, Internet https://www.sfworkshop.com.

Russia: Volga River

Historian Robert Feldman, retired director of Russian Studies at Cal State Fullerton, will lead a 16-day Russian waterways tour from Aug. 4 through 19. Guests will visit Moscow for three days to see Red Square, the Kremlin Armory Museum and Tretyakov Art Gallery. Passengers will spend seven days cruising the Volga River through the old Russian heartland, stopping at towns and villages dating from the 11th century.

Arriving in St. Petersburg, the group will disembark for four days for tours of the Hermitage, the tsarist summer palace at Petrodvorets, Catherine’s Palace at Pushkin and the Peter and Paul Fortress. The tour features performances of the Moscow Circus, Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet, a folk dance troupe and a classical music ensemble. Special meals and a gala Russian dinner are included.

Cost: $3,990 per person, including air fare from Los Angeles, ground transportation, accommodations, meals, excursion fees, theater and music performances, porterage and taxes.

Contact: East-West International Tours, 1248 Montevideo Ave., Placentia, CA 92870; tel. (800) 359- 6719, Internet https://www.eastwest-tours.com.

Austria: Opera

Opera and classical music lovers can listen to concerts and see the sights on a trip to Austria (Aug. 24 to Sept. 5) for the Salzburg Music Festival and the Vienna Opera’s opening week. Participants will hear “Don Giovanni,” “William Tell” and several Mahler and Mozart concerts.

Sightseeing excursions in and around Salzburg include Mozart’s home, the Salzkammergut lake country and the Bavarian castle Herrenchiemsee in Germany. In Vienna the group will visit Schonbrunn Palace, Vienna Philharmonic Golden Hall, the Kunst-historisches Museum, Palace Belvedere’s art collection and the Hundertwasser Kunsthaus museum.

Cost: $5,875 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, ground transportation, most meals and entrance fees. Air fare is extra.

Contact: Jerry Glaser at International Curtain Call, 3313 Patricia Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90064; tel. (310) 204-4934.

France: Chateaux

Ambiance France, a Sacramento-based travel company, is offering weeklong tours of Dordogne and Provence, where guests will stay in restored 18th century cha^teaux. In Dordogne, guests will visit the prehistoric caves of Lascaux II and the hilltop village of St.-Emilion. In Provence, they will explore the papal city of Avignon and the harbor of Cassis.

In the evenings, the hosts will prepare elegant dinners served in the castles’ dining rooms. Other highlights include a visit to the local market with a regional chef followed by a hands-on cooking demonstration and private wine tastings at a local winery. Call for dates, which run frequently between May 29 and Sept. 30.

Cost: $1,950 per person, double occupancy, including seven nights in a chateau, all breakfasts, most meals, entrance fees and ground transportation. Air fare is extra. Contact: Ambiance France, 2324 Shorewood Drive, Carmichael, CA 95608; tel. (916) 484-7730, Internet https://www.ambiancefrance.com.

France: Photography

The Loire, the longest river in France, flows through a lush valley that lies 1 1/2 hours’ drive southwest of Paris. A tour to this region, Sept. 27 to Oct. 5, will take visitors to several of the chateaux, including Chambord, Chenonceau, Azay-le-Rideau and Saumur, as well as some of the pretty medieval towns that lie along the water’s edge: Blois, Amboise, Chinon and Loches. The vineyards of the Touraine and its neighboring region, Anjou, will be full of people harvesting the grapes.

Guests will also visit the Abbey of Fontevrault, which was founded in 1099. It is the last resting place of King Richard the Lionhearted, his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and his brother Prince John (of Robin Hood fame).

Cost: $1,999 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, most meals, ground transportation from Paris, entrance to chateaux grounds. Air fare is extra.

Contact: France Photogenique, 392 W. 231st Place, Torrance, CA 90505; tel. (310) 378-2821, Internet https://www.francephotogenique .com.

Scotland: Scenic Walks

Walk through history on a tour of Scotland June 14 to 27 to see rolling hills, waterfalls and castles, blended with the music, beverages, food and lifestyles of the Scottish people. Guests visit castles (including cliff-top ruins of Findlater and Edinburgh), watch Scottish sheepherding and falconry, and visit the Glenfiddich distillery. Guides will introduce their longtime friends and share their favorite spots with guests.

Cost: $2,395 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations at pub-style inns and country lodges, airport transfers, ground transportation, admissions and some meals. Air fare is not included.

Contact: The Gurnham Group; tel. (800) 475-0004, Internet https:// www.gurnhamgroup.com.

Ireland: Cycling

Easy Rider Tours of Newburyport, Mass., a specialist in Irish bicycling vacations, is offering 10- to 15-day tours led by one Irishman and one American. Traveling with an Irish guide, cyclists experience the country from an insider’s view. A single day’s ride can take guests through 4,000 years of history. Tours include an evening of traditional Irish tales, and an Irish jam session in a local pub. At Yeats’ graveside in Drumcliffe Churchyard, a Donegal schoolteacher educates the group with a reading from the poet’s best-known works. In Galway, cyclists will have the opportunity to attend the Druid Theatre.

Departures begin regularly in late May and continue through September.

Cost: $1,895 for 10-day trips and $2,750 for the 15-day “Best of the West” tour. Prices include all accommodations, most meals, two guides, a support van and airport transfers. Air fare and bicycle rentals are not included.

Contact: Easy Rider Tours, P.O. Box 228, Newburyport, MA 01950; tel. (800) 488-8332, Internet https://www.easyridertours.com.

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