A selection of tours and cruise-tours
10- and 14-day tours of South Island. Highlights: Day cruise, trek Abel Tasman National Park/wine tasting in Blenheim/seals in Kaikoura/on 14-day tour, add Doubtful Sound, Mt. Cook, Christchurch. Land only for 10-day tour, NZ$4,200 (near US$2,366), or 14-day tour, NZ$5,400 (US$3,043). Single supp. for both, NZ$875 (US$493). New Zealand Travellers (169 Cable Bay Rd. RD-1, Nelson, New Zealand; phone 64 3 545 2546, www.nztravellers.co.nz).
15 day/13-night tour, Oct. 17-31 & Oct. 24-Nov. 7, 2009, focuses on JAPAN’S folk architecture and regional cuisine. Highlights: From Tokyo, north to Japan Sea/manor houses on Niigata Plains/Nagano temples/Takayama sake breweries/visit an indigo dyer and a ceramic artisan/Moss Garden in Kyoto. Land only, $5,285. Single supp., $800.
Journeys East (Middletown, CA; 800/527-2612, www.journeyseast.com).
18-day/16-night tour, Sept. 11-28, 2009. Booking deadline, July 11. Highlights: Austro-Hungarian architecture in Novi Sad, SERBIA/visit artists’ studios in Belgrade/in BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA, Sarajevo’s oriental bazaar/walled town of Kotor, MONTENEGRO/CROATIA’S Dubrovnik. From New York, $5,675. Single supp., $820.
Craft World Tours (Byron, NY; 585/548-2667, www.craftworldtours.com).
8-day/7-night women’s hiking and cooking tour of ITALY, Oct. 17-24, 2009. Highlights: Near Assisi, hike Mount Subasio Regional Park/medieval villages near Spoleto/ancient abbey of St. Eutizio/two cooking lessons. Land only, $2,650. Single supp., $450. Active Journeys (Toronto, ON, Canada; 800/597-5594, www.activejourneys.com).
9 days/8 nights, Sept. 4-12, 2009. Highlights: Embark MV Princesse de Provence in Lyon/wine tasting in Burgundy, Beaujolais and at Châteauneuf-du-Pape/six cycle excursions, including Arles, Avignon, Vienne. From $3,467. Bike & Cruise Tours (Naples, FL; 239/431-6219, www.bikeandcruise.com).
6-day/5-night tour, Oct. 28-Nov. 2, 2009, includes pre-1905-car event. Highlights: Royal Automobile Club events/Churchill’s war bunker, Cabinet Rooms/Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Oliver,” starring Rowan Atkinson. Land only, $2,725. Single supp., $750. Steve Austin’s Automobilia & Great Vacations (Colton, OR; 800/452-8434, www.steveaustinsgreatvacations.com).
13-day/11-night tour of ARGENTINA and CHILE includes 3-day cruise aboard MV Via Australis or MV Mare Australis. Departs Oct. 18 and Nov. 11, 2009. Highlights: In Buenos Aires, cook empanadas; tour Recoleta Cemetery/from Ushuaia sail to Beagle and Magdalena channels, looking for dolphins and condors/take a Zodiac near Piloto and Nena glaciers/Magdalena Island penguin colony/Torres del Paine National Park/Santiago, CHILE, winery tour. From $8,990 includes tour, cruise and internal air. Single supp., from $2,500.
11-day/9-night tour includes 4-day Nile cruise. Highlights: Cruise up Nile to Luxor for Valley of the Kings, Kom Ombo temple complex/Memphis, first capital of Egypt/pyramids of Giza and Sphinx/in Cairo, Egyptian Museum and Mohammad Ali Alabaster Mosque. From $2,685 from New York. Single supp., $995. Lotus International Tours (Yorba Linda, CA; 888/329-7848, www.discover-egypt.com).
10 days/9 nights, Oct. 3-12, 2009. Highlights: In Yangon, golden Sule Pagoda, crafts and gems at Bogyoke Market/boat excursion on Inle Lake/Jumping Cat Monastery/Phaung Daw Oo Festival includes leg rower races/Mt. Popa, home to 37 nats (spirits)/three royal capitals: Amarapura, Sagaing and Inwa. Land only, from $1,550. Single supp., $575. Round-trip air from Los Angeles, from $875. Ceylon Express International (Huntington Beach, CA; 800/423-9566, www.ceylonexpress.com).
22-day/18-night tour includes Pushkar Camel Festival and two days of volunteer work at village school. Highlights: In Delhi, Qutab Minar, Red Fort/ride camels into the dunes near Kanoi/dancers, artisans and thousands of camels at the Pushkar Mela (livestock fair)/in Jaipur, Amber Palace, Palace of Winds/Taj Mahal by moonlight in Agra/return via Delhi. $4,950 from Vancouver. Single supp., $1,475. Bestway Tours & Safaris (8678 Greenall Ave., Ste. 206, Burnaby, BC, Canada; 800/663-0844, www.bestway.com).