Package deals for winter heating up

WITH aviation fuel priced sky-high -- and many airlines struggling financially -- you’d think foreign travel would be more expensive than ever. Not so.

There are many bargains this winter. Los Angeles travelers can spend five or six days in London or Paris on a winter holiday for less than $600, including airfare and hotels. The packages are available from Gate 1 Travel, (800) 682-3333, www.gate1travel.com. The London package -- five days, priced from $596 -- is available in January and February. The Paris package, also available in January and February, is a bit cheaper: six days, starting at $568.

Other deals from Gate 1: six days to Amsterdam, from $662; and six days to Rome, from $694.

The Amsterdam trip is available only in January and February, but the Rome price is good in December too. All packages are subject to availability. To China, Gate 1 is charging $799 per person (single surcharge $201) for a seven-day air-and-hotel package that includes spending the Chinese New Year in Hong Kong.

When you consider that all other costs in China are measured in the undervalued Chinese currency, the total cost of a one-week winter stay there is probably little more than you’d incur on a one-week package to London or Paris. China is perhaps the biggest bargain of all.

None of the Gate 1 specials includes airport taxes and security charges, which cost $82 to $165 per person.

In domestic travel, packages to the Florida theme parks remain cheap, despite the increase in fuel costs. Throughout the first three months of 2006 (starting Jan. 5), ELeisureLink.com will continue to charge $443 for five nights in Orlando and round-trip airfare from Los Angeles or Oakland. The rate is unchanged from earlier this year, and the hotel -- the Clarion Resort Maingate, about a mile from Disney World -- has been upgraded from the previous Sleep Inn Maingate. For information, call (888) 801-8808.

These low winter prices aren’t confined to air-and-land packages but also extend to well-known U.S. hotels as well. ELeisureLink.com can place you at hotels in Los Angeles or San Francisco in January through March for rates from $119 per room to $135 per room. The usual rates of the same hotels are $200 to $330 per room.