Opera Under the Stars in a 1st Century Coliseum

Opera under the stars in Verona and the Puccini Festival in Torre del Lago are highlights of a musical tour to Italy from July 9 to 22.

The group will take day trips through the same Veneto countryside that inspired composers Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini.

They will tour Verdi’s villa in Roncole and the birthplace of Puccini in Lucca.

A tour of Cremona with time to hear music played on an original Stradivarius violin will be scheduled.

Another day will be spent exploring Venice.

Lodgings include a two-night stay in a private villa, where guests will hear a concert performed on antique instruments; a restored 12th century monastery in the Emilia-Romagna region; a B&B; in Verona; a villa hotel outside Venice; and a hotel on the coast near Viareggio.

Cost: $3,395 per person, double occupancy, including 13 nights’ accommodations, most meals, ground transportation, some entrance fees, tickets to a performance of “Carmen” in the Arena di Verona (a 1st century arena) and tickets to the Puccini Festival. Air fare to Venice is extra.

Contact: Nicki Mistri at Bel So- gno Tours; (714) 526-2244, www.belsognotours.com.

Ireland: The Other Half

Ireland Behind the Scenes offers small-group luxury tours that include invitations to private estates, 18th century homes, historic castles and opportunities to go golfing at championship courses.

Transportation will be in limousines, and overnight stays will be in castle suites.

Highlights include dinner as guests of Desmond Guinness, founder of the Georgian Society architectural group and an authority on Irish houses and castles, at his Leixlip Castle home; lunch in the historic Dublin home of Jen Kelly, costume designer for “Riverdance”; lunch at the Limerick estate of American interior designer Carleton Varney; and private tours of the factories of potter Nicholas Mosse, Tipperary Crystal and Kinsale Crystal.

Tours are June 12 to 25 or Sept. 5 to 18.

Cost: $6,900 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, meals, ground transportation and all gratuities. The tour is limited to 14 nonsmoking guests. Air fare to Dublin is extra.

Contact: Patsy Brady Malone; (888) 610-6000, www.irelandbehindthescenes.com.

Alaska: Rail and Sail

Riding the rails and hopping on a cruise ship are two ways to get to Alaska.

A 12-night journey departs June 7 from Los Angeles on Amtrak’s Coast Starlighter to Oakland. Guests will connect to an Amtrak bus, which will drop off passengers in San Francisco for one night at the Radisson Fisherman’s Wharf Hotel.

The next day passengers will board the Regal Princess for a round-trip cruise to Alaska. Ports of call include Sitka, rich in Russian heritage; Juneau, the state capital; Ketchikan, which boasts the world’s largest totem pole collection; and Victoria, Canada.

Cost: from $1,620 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip train, round-trip cruise, port charges and pre- and post-cruise hotel in San Francisco.

Contact: Mary at Altour/Classic Cruise & Travel; (818) 990-0349.

China: Cuisine

See and eat your way through China on a culinary and cultural tour scheduled from May 9 to 23.

Cooking classes are taught by professional chefs and include home-style northern cuisine taught in a renovated courtyard-style home in Beijing, noodles and dumplings in Xian, Sichuan’s cookery in Chengdu, eastern cuisine in the modern kitchens of the Shanghai Grand Hyatt and Cantonese cookery in Hong Kong.

Classes are interspersed with touring China’s sights, plus a banquet on the Great Wall, browsing antique and cashmere markets, acrobatic demonstrations and a cruise of Hong Kong’s harbor.

Cost: $5,190 per person, double occupancy, including five cooking classes, accommodations at luxury hotels, all meals, entrance fees, internal flights, land transportation, baggage handling, guide and driver gratuities. Air fare to China is extra.

Contact: Imperial Tours; (888) 296-5306, www.imperialtours.net.

Spain and France

Archeologist Gary Stickel is planning an “artistic time machine” tour, called “Origins to Futures,” to see ancient cave art in Spain and France and modern works at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.

Other highlights include the Prado Museum in Madrid and monks singing Gregorian chants in Santo Domingo de Silos, a monastery in Burgos.

The tour culminates in Paris with a tour of the Louvre museum and other well-known attractions such as the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. The 14-day tour begins Sept. 18.

Cost: $4,149 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, most meals, entrance fees, transfers, guide and transportation within Spain and France. Air fare to Madrid and return from Paris is extra.

Contact: Gary Stickel; (323) 937-6997. Travelers will book the trip through Travelmore of Pacific Palisades; (800) 547-7652.

France: Bicycle Race

An eight-night trip to bike segments of the Tour de France route is available this summer.

Mornings will be spent biking, and afternoons are set aside for local sightseeing and cultural attractions.

At the end of the week, groups will head for each segment’s finish line.

The Champagne and Normandy group (July 5 to 13) will start from Luxembourg and bike through northern France: Metz in the Lorraine region, the cathedral city of Reims, Rouen and the Champagne region. The group will observe individual and team time trials.

The second group (July 13 to 21) will traverse the scenic Bordeaux wine country, Gascony and the Mediterranean region of Languedoc-Roussillon. There will be stops at Pau in the Pyrenees, at Beziers and in the regional capital of Montpellier.

The third group (July 21 to 29) will cover France’s eastern regions, including the French Alps, the most challenging part of the Tour de France. This group will cycle through Aime, Cluses and Bourg-en-Bresse and watch the race’s finale at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Cost: $2,695 per person, double occupancy, for groups 2 and 3, and $2,545 for group 1. The tour includes accommodations, all meals, entrance fees, guides and transportation. Air fare and bike rentals are extra.

Contact: Discover France; (800) 960-2221, www.discoverfrance.com.

Baja: Whales

Follow the migration of tourists and whales on Baja Discovery’s trip to San Ignacio Lagoon, where tourgoers will camp on the lagoon’s shore.

Many whales winter in the lagoon. Five-day trips run until March 18. Participants will travel by bus from San Diego to Ensenada in Baja California and board a chartered plane that will fly to the lagoon.

The group will transfer by boat to Baja Discovery’s nature camp on Rocky Point. The camp has tents with cushioned cots, indoor bathrooms and a solar-heated shower.

Meals are served in the main activity tent. After breakfast, 22-foot fishing boats will take tourgoers close to the whales.

Naturalists will discuss whales, the ecology of the lagoon, its tide pools, mangroves and abundant bird life.

Cost: $1,825 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from San Diego, guides, boat excursions, all meals and lodging at the camp.

Contact: Baja Discovery Tours; (800) 829-2252, bajadiscovery.com.

Utah: Camping

The red-hued canyons around Moab are the setting for an active tour by Abercrombie & Kent.

The seven-day trip includes three days of rafting and camping in Westwater Canyon, a day of horseback riding or mountain biking in Mill Creek Canyon and either flying over Canyonlands National Park and Monument Valley or hiking in the Moab region.

The overall excursion is rated moderate, and the river rapids range from Class II (“rocking the raft”) to IV (“soaking water jumping into your raft”).

Departures are May 6 and 20, June 2 and 12, July 9, Aug. 13 and 27 and Sept. 8.

Cost: $2,115 per person, double occupancy, including six nights’ accommodations, many meals, transfers and rafting gear. Air fare to Salt Lake City is extra.

Contact: Abercrombie & Kent; (800) 323-7308, www.abercrombiekent.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.