History and Culture in the Land of the Czars

Historian Jay Alexander of the University of Kansas and Robert Feldman, a retired director of Russian studies at Cal State Fullerton, will lead two tours to Russia. Alexander, who will escort a group from July 19 to Aug. 4, and Feldman, who will take a group from Aug. 10 to 26, are frequent travelers to Russia. Each will give history lectures and lead discussions throughout the trip.

The tours will begin with three days in Moscow, where participants will stay at the Metropol Hotel next to Red Square. In Moscow they will visit the Kremlin, the Kremlin Armory Museum, KGB Museum, the Tretyakov Art Gallery and Red Square. The groups will spend six days cruising the Volga River through the Russian heartland, stopping daily at towns and villages dating from the 11th century. Arriving in St. Petersburg, participants will disembark for a four-day tour while staying at the Sheraton Nevsky Palace in the center of the city. The tour includes two visits to the Hermitage Museum, Peter the Great’s summer palace at Petrodvorets, Catherine’s Palace at Pushkin, Paul’s Palace at Pavlovsk and the Yusupov Palace. Arrangements will be made to visit a Russian family at home. The tour features performances of a ballet, a folk dance troupe and the Moscow Circus. The tour ends with a night in Helsinki, Finland.

Cost: $4,090 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, accommodations, semi-suite cruise cabins, all meals on cruise and two meals daily in Moscow and St. Petersburg, ground transportation, excursions, theater and music performances.

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

Japan: Rural Life

Journeys East, a Northern California-based tour company specializing in Japan, is offering two tours of rural Japan that focus on its culture. The 15-day itinerary, called “From Farmhouse to Teahouse,” focuses on folk architecture, regional cuisine and Japanese country living. Every evening the group will partake in a bath before donning cotton kimonos and dining on local specialties. Participants will soak in wood tubs at the mountain hot springs of Gunma Prefecture, learn about rice cultivation near Niigata, visit a hot-springs town near Nagano, spend two nights in the mountain town of Takayama and meet lacquerware artists in the Kiso Valley.

Travelers spend the last three days in Kyoto, returning each evening to a 150-year-old inn for a final immersion in Japanese culture--a soak in a cedar bath with its own private rock garden. Departures are May 4 and Oct. 5.

Cost: $4,485 per person, double occupancy, including lodging, most meals, ground transportation and guides. Air fare to Tokyo is extra.

Contact: Journeys East; (800) 527-2612, www.journeyseast.com.

France: Gardens

Medieval hill towns, lush gardens and the landscape that inspired the artists Van Gogh, Cezanne, Matisse and Picasso are featured in an 11-day tour of France that departs May 22. Provence, the wild horse country of the Camargue and the French Riviera will be explored. Tourgoers will visit private gardens in Provence as well as Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild and Lawrence Johnston’s La Serre de la Madone on the Riviera.

Cost: $3,245 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, daily breakfasts, most dinners, all sightseeing, entrance fees and guides. Air fare is extra.

Contact: Lucas & Randall; (800) 505-2505, www.lucasandrandall.com.

Europe: Four Countries

Small-group tour company International Travel Marketing has added a new tour to Europe. A 14-day Alpine adventure begins and ends in Munich, Germany, and encompasses upper Bavaria, the Austrian Tirol, Liechtenstein and central Switzerland.

With a maximum of 11 people per tour, the itinerary is designed to be flexible, allowing time to explore the back roads, meet the locals and see the countryside. Tirolean villages, the ski resorts of Kitzbuhel and Innsbruck, numerous castles and Salzburg in Austria; Munich, the Allgau, Oberammergau and the foothills of the Alps in Germany; a visit to Liechtenstein; and the lakes of Interlaken and Lucerne in Switzerland are included.

Two departures are scheduled: May 11 and June 8.

Cost: $2,599 per person, double occupancy, including daily breakfast and dinner, guides, entrance fees and accommodations in small hotels. Air fare is additional.

Contact: International Travel Marketing; (800) 830-1083, www.smallgrouptouring.com.

Canada: Gardens

A weeklong spring garden tour of Vancouver and Victoria in British Columbia, Canada, will depart on April 21.

In Vancouver, participants will take a city tour that includes Stanley Park and Queen Elizabeth Gardens. The stay will include visits to VanDusen Botanical Garden, Gastown, University of British Columbia Botanical Gardens and Nitobe Memorial Garden. Next, the tour will head to Victoria for visits to Craigdarroch Castle, the Royal British Columbia Museum and Butchart Gardens. Travelers will also take a steam train tour of Vancouver Island.

Cost: $1,295 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from Los Angeles, land transportation, accommodations, many meals, guided tours and theater tickets in Vancouver.

Contact: Great Western Tours; (800) 344-7090.

France: Quick Visit

For those with little vacation time, the French Experience is combining Paris and the Riviera on a one-week trip. “The Pariviera Extravaganza” will begin with three nights in Paris. A half-day tour by minivan provides an overview of Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysees.

Travelers then will take a scenic 53/4-hour ride on the high-speed TGV train to Nice, capital of the French Riviera, for a four-night stay. A day tour will include Cannes, Villefranche Bay, Cap Ferrat, Monte Carlo and the mountain village of Eze.

The company also offers tours to Champagne and Burgundy, Normandy, Brittany, Bordeaux and Provence.

Cost: from $1,018 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, daily breakfast, transfers and guides. Air fare is extra.

Contact: the French Experience; (212) 986-3800, www.frenchexperience.com.

Scotland: Painting

Artists (and nonartist companions) can stay in a castle in Scotland for a week while taking day trips or painting the scenery.

Participants will stay in Blackcraig Castle, which spans the River Ardle in Perthshire. Traditional Scottish meals prepared in the castle kitchen will be served daily. Activities will include art sessions, country walks, pony trekking in the Highlands, castle and garden tours, golfing and shopping in Pitlochry. Nonpainting participants are free to tour independently or join the art students on location. The group will attend a folk dance at Blackcraig Castle, spend a day in the Braemar Highlands along Royal Deeside and see a theater performance in Pitlochry.

Tour dates are June 22 to 29 and July 6 to 13.

Cost: Nonpainters $1,195 per person per week; painters (beginners welcome) $1,295 per person per week, based on double occupancy, including room with shared bath, all meals except three lunches, and art instruction. Air fare and ground transportation are extra.

Contact: Lady Jill’s Fine Arts; (877) 700-7769, www.ladyjill.com.

Florida: Canoeing

Wilderness Inquiry is offering six-day canoe trips to the 10,000 Islands area of the Florida Everglades. The northern region of the Everglades offers a unique ecosystem with hundreds of bird species, dolphins, manatees and pelicans. The trip begins and ends at the Shark Valley Nature Preserve in Everglades National Park. Participants will paddle through saltwater mangrove estuaries and camp on islands in the Gulf of Mexico. No experience is necessary. Canoe trips run year-round.

Cost: $745 per person, double occupancy, including canoes, tents, guides and meals. Air fare to Florida and van transportation to the meeting place are extra.

Contact: Wilderness Inquiry; (800) 728-0719, www.wildernessinquiry.org.

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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.