Mayan Ruins, Markets in Guatemala, Honduras

Professor and artist Raoul de la Sota will take visitors on a study program from March 22 to April 6 to the ancient Mayan cities of Tikal in Guatemala and Copan in Honduras. The tour will concentrate on Guatemala, with visits to colorful villages in the country’s highlands, such as Santiago Atitlan, the markets of Solola and Chichicastenango and the weaving villages of San Antonio and Santa Maria. The group will also tour the Textile Museum and the Anthropology Museum in Guatemala City. In Antigua on Easter, participants will watch local people create carpets from organic materials for an outdoor religious procession.

Cost: $3,399 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from LAX, air fares to Tikal and Copan, hotels, all breakfasts, eight meals, ground transportation, guides and porterage.

Contact: Vanessa Acosta at Cultural Arts Tours & Workshops; (323) 982-0229.

Italy: Painting the Towns

Artists and their nonpainting companions can explore the island of Elba, Lake Maggiore and Venice in Italy with artist Glenn Vilppu from June 16 to 28. Tourgoers will explore, sketch and paint hidden coves on Elba and visit Napoleon’s home in Portoferraio. While staying by Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, they will tour three Borromean Islands. The tour includes four days in Venice to paint and explore the city and will end with a special train trip to Vicenza to see the 16th century architecture of Andrea Palladio.

Cost: $3,395 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, 18 meals, baggage handling, airport transfers, art instruction, ground transportation and guided excursions. Air fare to Milan is extra.

Contact: Personalized Travel; (818) 994-2402, www.artistravel.com.

Europe: Photography

Photographer Michele Burgess is offering a trip to explore the Czech Republic from Aug. 3 to 19. Highlights include Prague and the spa towns of Karlovy Vary and Marianske Lazne; Plzen, a beer brewing town; the medieval towns of Cesky Krumlov, Loket and Cheb; villages rich in painted Renaissance buildings; the Moravian karst; numerous castles and fortresses of Bohemia and Moravia; and Terezin, a former Nazi concentration camp.

Cost: $4,095 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, accommodations, most meals and sightseeing fees.

Contact: In Focus With Michele Burgess; (714) 536-6104, www.infocustravel.com.

Portugal and Spain

Terry Baden, professor emeritus at Cal State Fullerton and an expert in Portuguese and Spanish culture, language and literature, will escort a tour to Portugal and Spain from May 28 to June 11. Among the cities visited: Lisbon and Evora, Portugal; and Plasencia, Madrid, Toledo, Granada and Seville, Spain. The tour is limited to 25.

The trip begins with a city tour of Lisbon, then continues up the coast to Sintra, a favorite summer residence of Portuguese monarchs. After a stop at Merida, known for its Roman ruins, travelers will spend the night in an ancient convent.

On the way to Madrid the group will visit Avila and Segovia. In Madrid, participants will tour the Prado museum. Traveling south, the tour will stop at the Alhambra palace in Granada before heading for Cordoba and Seville, then Evora in Portugal.

Cost: $3,890 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from Los Angeles, ground transportation, accommodations, two meals daily, entrance fees, taxes and porterage.

Contact: East-West International Tours; (800) 359-6719, www.eastwest-tours.com.

Mexico: Colonial Gems

An architectural and culinary tour to Mexico is planned from April 19 to 27. Participants will visit several private colonial homes and haciendas for receptions. Dinner will be hosted in a different historic colonial patio restaurant each evening.

Participants will stay six nights in a monastery-turned-hotel in the hillside town of San Miguel de Allende, from which they will take side trips to Guanajuato, Dolores Hidalgo and Queretaro. Guests will also stay in Morelia, in a 250-year-old hotel. A side trip to Lake Patzcuaro is planned.

Cost: $1,745 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, airport transfers, hotel accommodations, daily breakfast and dinner, and all sightseeing and entrance fees.

Contact: Frank Tyson Private Adventures; (818) 501-4100.

Spain: Gardens, Cuisine

You can see northern Spain’s beaches and mountains and everything in between on a trip to the Basque provinces of Asturias and Galicia.

The tour runs May 31 to June 13. On the itinerary: San Sebastian, Bilbao, Santillana del Mar, Comillas, Oviedo, Gijon, Pontevedra and Santiago de Compostela.

The group will see prehistoric cave paintings, walk some of the pilgrims’ route to Santiago de Compostela, see the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and visit gardens and sculpture collections. Guests will meet Spanish families in their homes and enjoy regional cuisine in private homes and restaurants.

Katherine Greenberg, garden designer and president of the Mediterranean Garden Society, will escort the tour.

Cost: $4,450 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations in hotels and historic paradores, bus transportation, daily breakfast and some other meals, and entrance fees. Air fare is extra.

Contact: Landmark Travel; (925) 253-2600, or Katherine Greenberg at (925) 283-4322.

Japan: Sampling

Hermes Travel and Tours of Los Angeles has planned a trip to Japan from March 27 to April 8 that includes some of the country’s best sites.

The group will spend four nights in Tokyo, then head north to Nikko. Moving south, travelers will see the heartland of Japan and travel by bus to cities around Mt. Fuji, such as Hokone, Isawa, Takayama and Gifu. The tour ends with two of the most historic cities in Japan, Kyoto and the ancient capital of Nara.

Cost: $2,588 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from Los Angeles, hotels, transfers, most meals and guides.

Contact: Hermes Travel and Tours; (310) 791-5556.

Russia: Waterways

“Vanishing Treasures” is a cruise to Russia to see 900-year-old towns along the Volga River and historic wood Orthodox churches. Passengers aboard the Kirov will also spend three days in St. Petersburg to visit St. Catherine’s Cathedral and art masterpieces at the Hermitage museum. The weeklong cruise ends with a three-night stay in Moscow to see Red Square and attend a Moscow Circus performance. The 14-day tour departs July 5.

Cost: $2,989 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, all meals, outside cruise cabin, lectures, guides and entrance fees.

Contact: A World of Travel; (800) 247-6879, www.sendmeaway.com.

Europe: River Cruises

Between May 5 and Oct. 6 there are 21 departures of a two-week cruise on the rivers and canals of the Netherlands, France, Germany and Switzerland. The trips include two days in Amsterdam and five days of cruising on the 184-passenger Britannia.

Along the Rhine River, passengers will stop in Cologne, Koblenz and Heidelberg in Germany; Strasbourg in France; and the Swiss port of Basel. From there, passengers will take a five-day bus tour to Lucerne, Grindelwald, Geneva and Gruyeres.

Cost: $1,895 per person, double occupancy, including bus transportation, cruise, hotels, many meals and guides. Air fare to Amsterdam is extra.

Contact: KD River Cruises of Europe; (800) 346-6525, www.rivercruises.com.

Australia: Cruise

Inta-Aussie Tours of Los Angeles is offering a tour to Australia that visits nature parks, historic homesteads and vineyards along the Murray River in southern Australia.

Participants will take a six-day, 100-mile cruise on a sternwheeler beginning and ending in Mannum, 90 minutes from Adelaide.

Passengers will pass farmlands, orchards and vineyards and will visit Ngaut Ngaut Conservation Park, an aboriginal archeological site.

Cost: from $660 per person, double occupancy, including cabin, all meals and shore excursions. Air fare to Adelaide and bus fare to Mannum are extra.

Contact: Inta-Aussie Tours; (800) 531-9222,

www.inta-aussie.com.

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