Just you and your bargain on the beach

DURING the next four weeks, vacation prices will sink to their lowest levels of the year. From Thanksgiving through mid-December, airplanes, resorts and cruise ships will empty out, and smart travelers will take advantage of the bargains (and the calm) that descend, not only upon resorts and resort islands, but also in the major tourist cities of Europe and Asia.

Among the travel deals to Europe is a nine-night special from www.go-today.com, (800) 227-3235, that may interest travelers who want to get a taste of Italy. From now until Dec. 14, the tour operator will send you by air round-trip from LAX to Rome, and then by train to Florence and Venice, spending three hotel nights in each of Italy’s three main tourist cities. The price is $1,159; during most other periods of the year, you’d pay that much for airfare to Italy alone.

If Asia is on your wish list, pay $999 for 10 nights in five Chinese cities, including accommodations, escorted sightseeing and most meals. The tour, with San Francisco departures Dec. 1 and Dec. 5, is offered by www.chinafocustravel.com, (800) 868-7244, and includes round-trip air to Beijing and from Shanghai.

Cruise occupancy also goes through a slump in early December, bringing bargains. Holland America’s Noordam will depart Dec. 6 from New York on a 10-day Caribbean sailing to Grand Turk; Tortola, British Virgin Islands; St. Maarten; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and back. Inside cabins are available from White Travel Service, www.whitetravel.com, (800) 547-4790, from $699 per person plus tax.

From now until mid-December, luxury is available at a low cost in many Caribbean islands.

In the Dominican Republic, among the least expensive of all these tropical havens, four deluxe hotels operated by Spain’s Bahia Principe group are opening in November. In the early weeks of their operation, and until just about Christmas, three of those four-star properties -- the Cayacoa, the El Portillo and the Samana, each with multiple facilities -- will be charging slightly less than $200 per person, per night, for their standard rooms, three meals daily, unlimited drinks, entertainment and nonmotorized sports. Go to www.bahia-principe.com, or call (866) 282-2442.

Those are a few of the travel bargains available to you in November and early December.

While your friends devote those weeks to slogging through holiday crowds at department stores and malls, you can vacation abroad and, in the course of lazy relaxation, stock up on the unusual gifts that travel makes available.