A late-fall trip to the tropics? Call it an early holiday gift

ONE of the best times of the year is almost upon us. November and early December are opportune periods because travel almost everywhere slows down, and tour operators trot out their most attractive offers and sales.

An example is the rate Pleasant Holidays, (800) 742-9244, www.pleasantholidays.com, is quoting for packages to Hawaii. On its website (under advertised specials) is a $525 package for round-trip air between L.A. and Maui and five nights at the Aston Maui Lu. That’s per person, double occupancy.

Interested in heading a bit farther west next month? November bargains to the South Pacific include a special from Escapes Unlimited, www.escapesltd.com or (800) 243-7227. It is offering five nights in Bali for $689, per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air on Singapore Airlines from Los Angeles or San Francisco to Bali and five-night hotel stays with daily breakfast. It includes transfers and a half-day village and temple tour. Add about $250 for taxes and fuel surcharges.

Late fall also marks declining prices to Europe. As of Nov. 1, Go-Today.com, www.go-today.com or (800) 227-3235, will cut the price of a November-to-mid-December trip to London to $729 per person for round-trip air from Los Angeles and six nights with daily breakfast at a hotel, including a hefty fuel surcharge.

To Paris, the price from such tour operators as Gate 1 Travel, www.gate1travel.com or (800) 682-3333, starts as low as $869 from Los Angeles, for round-trip air and six nights in hotels.

To the capitals of Central Europe, tour operator Paul Laifer, www.laifertours.com or (800) 346-6314, charges $699 to Prague and $779 to Budapest for round-trip air from New York, six hotel nights, buffet breakfast daily, airport-to-hotel transfers and half a day sightseeing.

Again in November, all the major cruise brokers offer bargain rates for Caribbean sailings.

Check Cruise Holidays, www.cruiseholidays.com, click on “Cruise Specials,” and you’ll find such deals as a five-day western Caribbean sailing on a Celebrity Cruises ship departing from Tampa on Nov. 25 for as little as $249 plus tax, and a 10-day southern Caribbean cruise on a Holland America ship leaving Nov. 29 for as little as $1,099 per person plus tax.