TOURS & CRUISES

CALIFORNIA

Heeding the call of the wild by horseback in the Eastern Sierra

SEARCH for wild mustangs as they roam the sagebrush-covered hills and pinyon pine forests of the Eastern Sierra on a four-day horseback riding adventure sponsored by UCLA Extension.

“It’s like stepping back into the Old West,” said Craig London, a veterinarian from Bishop, Calif., who will lead the trip. “We start out at River Springs, an old stage stop, and ride up Montgomery Pass into the high plains, where the Paiute and Shoshone once lived.”

The May 24 trip explores the Pizona Springs area of Inyo National Forest, near the California-Nevada border. Participants ride out daily from a base camp at an elevation of about 8,500 feet to study and photograph wild horses. The trip is planned to coincide with the mustangs’ annual migration to their high-elevation summer range.

“It’s a beautiful herd of 100 to 150 horses,” London said. “Very colorful: buckskins, roans, sorrels, bays, whites and solid blacks. And large: 15 hands high, big-boned with broad chests. The odds of seeing them are ideal because of a limited number of watering holes.”

Cost: $625 per person, including tuition, instruction, horses, tack, tents and meals. Transportation to Bishop is not provided.

Contact: UCLA Extension; (310) 825-9971 or (818) 784-7006, www.uclaextension.org.

ENGLAND

Living the ‘Secret’ life in the home of Hogwarts

Trace Harry Potter’s steps on a 10-day, eight-night tour of England.

The escorted trip, designed to appeal to families, visits London, York, Oxford, Goathland, Darlington, Durham, Lancaster, Gloucester, Bristol and Bath. Sites where “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” the second film in the series, was shot are highlights.

In London, participants will see Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and King’s Cross Station.

The trip also includes visits to Stonehenge, North York Moors National Park and the train station at Goathland, the setting for Hogsmeade Station in the movie, where the Hogwarts Express arrives. The group also stops at Alnwick Castle near the Scottish border, where many outdoor scenes, including the broom-flying classes and Quidditch games, were filmed.

Departure dates for the trip, called the Magical Medieval Tour, are March 8 and 22, April 5, July 5 and 19, and Aug. 9 and 23.

Cost: $1,059 per person, double occupancy; $450 for children younger than 12. Included are accommodations, daily breakfast, three dinners, transfers and a guide. Air fare from Los Angeles to England is not included.

Contact: Trafalgar Tours; (800) 648-1638, www.trafalgar.com.

CHINA

On the path of ancient traders East to West

Follow the route of Marco Polo on a 20-day tour that focuses on China’s Silk Road, the trade route that linked East and West.

The April 7 tour, which begins in Beijing, crosses China from Xian to Kashgar by boat, train, bus and airplane. There’s even a short segment by camel caravan.

The tour visits the mountains, deserts, ancient cities and oases along the route once used by traders to deliver silk from China to Rome.

Among the highlights are visits to Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Turpan and Urumqi. In Kashgar, the main caravan stop on the Silk Road, travelers attend a large market bazaar thought to be much the same as it was hundreds of years ago.

Cost: $5,500 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, accommodations, many meals, transfers, guides and gratuities.

Contact: Laguna Beach-based Far East Art and Adventure Travel; (949) 494-9778, www.warrenimports.com.

THAILAND

A different angle on a trip to Southeast Asia

Discover Thailand’s Golden Triangle -- where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet -- on a low-cost nine-day tour that also visits Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Bangkok.

The tour, available through March 31, includes excursions to the Karen and Akha hill tribes near Chiang Rai and a Mae Kok boat tour. At Chiang Mai there will be a tour to the Doi Suthep Temple and the Chiang Mai City Temple. Optional stopovers in Bangkok are available.

Cost: $1,199 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles or San Francisco on China Airlines, hotels, daily breakfast, internal transfers and excursions.

Contact: San Francisco-based Natrabu Indo-America Travel Inc.; (800) 628-7228, www.natrabu-usa.com.

CANADA

Seeing the light fantastic in the frozen north

Watch curtains of light dance in the sky on an aurora borealis tour to the Arctic tundra planned by the Manitoba Museum.

The four-day trip, departing March 26, takes place near the far-flung Canadian outpost of Churchill, on the shore of Hudson Bay. Participants view the northern lights from observation domes and a tundra buggy.

The trip begins at the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg, where travelers gather to tour the museum and its planetarium and be briefed on the sky-watching trip. Scott Young, the museum’s resident astronomy expert, will lead the tour.

From Winnipeg the group flies to Churchill. Besides stargazing, the tour includes dog sledding and area sightseeing.

Cost: $2,279 per person, including round-trip air fare from Winnipeg to Churchill, lodgings in Churchill and scheduled activities. Air fare to Canada is extra.

Contact: Heartland International Travel & Tours; (866) 890-3377, www.heartlandtravel.ca.

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