TOURS & CRUISES : Riding High on the Hogs Through Western Europe

Beach’s Motorcycle Adventures is offering an “Oktoberfest Olio Alpine Motorcycle Tour.”

The 21-day journey begins Sept. 12 and takes the riders to Germany for four nights, Austria and France for three nights each, and Switzerland and Italy for five nights each.

It also features two-night stays in the lake districts of Italy, France and Switzerland. The Oktoberfest tour concentrates on some of the most stunning scenery and interesting motorcycle riding in the Alps.

The first two-night stay is in Arabba, Italy, in the center of the Dolomite Mountains. The next two nights in Italy are at Lake Maggiore. Boat trips to the Borromean isles of Isola Dei Pescatori, Isola Madre and Isola Bella are included.

Annecy, France, is the next stop. Lake Annecy is the location for a rest day. The group then travels through France for another two days, staying overnight on a mountainside offering a view of Mont Blanc and the city and lake of Geneva.

Next it is on to Interlaken, Switzerland, located between lakes Brienz and Thun.

The tour concludes in Munich, Germany, with a visit to the Oktoberfest. Automobile drivers are also welcome to join the group.

Cost: $4,975 for rider, $3,850 for passenger, double occupancy, including BMW bike rental, hotels, most meals and sightseeing. Air fare is extra.

Contact: Beach’s Motorcycle Adventures, 2763 W. River Parkway, Grand Island, NY 14072; telephone (716) 773-4960, Internet https:// www.beachs-mca.com.

Mexico: Ruins

Explore the ancient civilizations of Mexico on an educational excursion Jan. 5 to 13 with Latin America anthropology professor Rick Chacon of El Camino College.

The group will explore the ruins of ancient Olmec, Teotihuacan, Toltec, Maya and Aztec civilizations. Sites include: Villahermosa, Teotihuacan, Tula, Palenque, Uxmal, Chichen Itza and the Anthropology Museum of Mexico City.

Cost: $1,670 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, ground transportation, two daily meals and hotels.

Contact: Rick Chacon; tel. (310) 660-3578.

More Mexico: Oaxaca

The mysteries of life and death, a visit from the departed, burning herbs, folk art, candles and traditional foods are observed on the Day of the Dead, which is the focus of a tour to Oaxaca Oct. 22 to Nov. 3. This is a small-group tour that will highlight the spiritual aspects of the festival.

A Oaxacan guide who is an expert on her Zapotec-Mixtec culture will lead the group in preparation for a Day of the Dead fiesta, which includes a visit to an indigenous sweat lodge for a massage, collecting herbs, building altars, learning to make the mole sauce for the feast, exploring the city and countryside and visiting ancient ruins. Guests will also go shopping for folk art.

Cost: $1,480 per person, including hotels, some meals and sightseeing. Air fare to Mexico is extra.

Contact: Meg Easling, P.O. Box 1837, Ojai, CA 93024; tel. (805) 646-3800.

Italy: Harvest

“Treasures of the Harvest” is the theme of a 10-day tasting and touring adventure in Tuscany and Umbria. The tour runs Nov. 2 to 13 and begins with five days in Lucca in the Italian region of Tuscany. Guests will take daily outings to villas, vineyards, historic sites and museums, including several in Florence. Then, in the Umbrian hill town of Spello, participants will visit an olive farm, a vineyard for wine tasting and the pottery town of Deruta.

Cost: $3,650 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from LAX, accommodations, many meals, daily excursions and motor-coach transportation.

Contact: Anne Block of Take My Mother, Please Tours, (323) 737-2200.

Britain: Christmas

A small-group tour (for a maximum of 11 people) is available to England and Wales for a traditional farmhouse Christmas.

Roaring log fires, carol services and nativity plays, hot chestnuts and wassailing in a local pub are some of the activities. There is also a full sightseeing program exploring southern England. The eight-day tour includes accommodations in a 17th century farmhouse attached to a working farm in a pretty Welsh village, and a historic property in England. Guests will visit Thomas Hardy country in Devon, Jane Austen’s house at Chawton and thatched-roof villages.

The tour runs Dec. 22 to 30, and add-on days in London are possible.

Cost: $1,949 per person, double occupancy, including lodging, some meals and sightseeing. Air fare is extra.

Contact: International Travel Marketing, 1492 W. 6th St., Suite E, Corona, CA 92882-3034; tel. (800) 830-1083.

Caribbean: Diving

The wreck of the Bianca C, a 600-foot cruise ship that went down in 160 feet of water in 1961, is one of three destinations offered in two scuba diving packages at Spice Island Beach Resort in Grenada. The others are the Molinere and Boss reefs off the Caribbean island’s shore.

Cost (valid until Dec. 14) is $2,210 for two for six days, five nights and five dives, or $3,270 for eight days, seven nights and 10 dives. Included are daily breakfast and dinner, beach suite with whirlpool bath and greens fees at a nearby nine-hole golf course.

Contact: International Travel and Resorts; tel. (800) 223-9815.

Tennessee: Music

Country music fans can visit the hometown of country stars--Nashville--on a weeklong trip to Tennessee and North Carolina that begins Oct. 14. In Nashville, participants will tour the Country Music Wax Museum, the Barbara Mandrell Country Museum, the State Capitol and Andrew Jackson’s historic mansion. In the evening there will be a show at the Grand Ole Opry. Guests continue the trip into the countryside to see horse farms and take a cruise on the Cumberland River. Dollywood and Knoxville are followed by Asheville, N.C., to see the Biltmore Estate. Two more country music shows are included.

Cost: $1,299 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, hotels, some meals and baggage handling.

Contact: Trieloff Tours; tel. (800) 248-6877.

Manhattan: Theater, Art

Celebrate the end of the millennium in Manhattan on two December theater and art tours to see Broadway shows and visit museums. Tours will be led by theater and art professionals. The tours include three Broadway shows and six nights at the Crowne Plaza Manhattan hotel. The first tour runs Dec. 16 to 22. The second runs Dec. 26 to Jan. 1 and includes a New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square.

Cost: $1,900 (Dec. 16) and $2,600 (Dec. 26) per person, double occupancy, including round trip on United Airlines from Los Angeles, a New York City bus tour, after-show seminars, museum trips and sightseeing.

Contact: Broadway Melody Tours; tel. (323) 227-8370.

Bahamas: Cruise

The Columbia House Power and Glory Christian Music Club is offering a gospel cruise featuring Yolanda Adams, gospel saxophonist Angella Christie, Nancey Jackson and Tamara Beamer.

Gospel music lovers will set sail from Miami on Dec. 3 to the Bahamas for three nights aboard Carnival Cruise Line’s Ecstasy. There will also be an opportunity to meet the artists in a private session.

Cost: from $845 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles to Miami. Reserve by Sept. 3.

Contact: International Tours and Cruises Fifth Avenue, 185 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010; tel. (800) 525-6888.

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