Art in Mexico City, Culture in Indonesia

Visit art collectors, take studio tours and discuss art with some of Mexico’s foremost contemporary artists on a trip to Mexico City and Puebla Oct. 31 to Nov. 9.

The group will visit the homes of Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and Dolores Olmedo Patino. They will view murals by Rivera and will stop at the Bazar Sabado, an arts and crafts bazaar in Mexico City. Guests will attend an authentic Day of the Dead event, and see colorful Day of the Dead altars. Museums and galleries are explored. In the colonial city of Puebla, the group will visit Baroque and Byzantine churches and tour a pottery factory.

Cost: $1,525 per person, double occupancy, including airport transfers, accommodations, land travel, admission fees and daily American breakfast. Air fare is not included.

Contact: Mexican Art Tours, 1233 E. Baker Drive, Tempe, AZ 85282; telephone (602) 730-1764.

Java and Bali

See the highlights of Java and Bali Oct. 18 to 31. The tour starts in the capital city of Jakarta on Java and continues to Bandung, with visits to Taman Mini Park, Bogor Botanical Gardens and Gunung Mas Tea Estates. Following a city tour, guests get a lecture on the Sundanese culture and then break up into small groups for tea in private homes. Participants fly to Yogyakarta for an excursion to Borobudur, a Buddhist monument. In neighboring Soto, they will visit royal residences and a Hindu temple complex. Once in Bali, the group spends three nights in the highlands of Ubud, with an outing to the Temple at Tampaksiring and to the town’s art center. Participants can rest and relax for the final two nights at a beach resort on Serai Beach. Cultural activities include a Sundanese music and dance performance, Shadow Puppet Theater, and Barong and Cecak dance performances.

Cost: $2,695 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from Los Angeles, accommodations, sightseeing, breakfast daily, several lunches and dinners.

Contact: Aslan Adventures, 25 N. Wenatchee Ave., Wenatchee, WA 98801; tel. (800) 9-ASLAN-9.

Harvesting Provence

Discover Provence with a native and combine three of France’s biggest attractions--wine, food and art. This tour is designed for eight guests, and the trips run April 18 to 25 and April 25 to May 2. Other spring and fall dates for 1998 are available. Participants will visit wineries in the Cha^teauneuf-du-Pape and Co^tes du Rho^ne regions; sample local fare; explore villages, cha^teaux and abbeys in the Luberon countryside; and see the Palace of the Popes in Avignon and the ancient Roman ruins of Arles’ Arena and the Pont du Gard. Also scheduled are visits to local markets, the fishing port of Cassis and a boat trip. Guests stay in a restored 18th century farmhouse.

Cost: $1,795 per person, double occupancy, including seven nights’ lodging, seven breakfasts, eight meals with wine, guides, ground transportation and transfers from the train station or airport. Air fare is extra.

Contact: French Vintage Vacations, 4132 E. Gold Dust Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85028-4504; tel. (602) 953-3173.

Eclipse Cruise

Experience a total eclipse of the sun on a cruise that goes to the Caribbean, one of the places on the planet to be if you want to be right in the solar eclipse path. The 10-day cruise leaves Fort Lauderdale Feb. 22, and the ship will float into position for the eclipse on Feb. 26.

Guest lecturers from Scientific Expeditions will show passengers how to view the eclipse safely.

Ports of call include St. Maarten, Barbados, Guadeloupe, St. John, St. Thomas and Half Moon Cay.

Cost: $1,520 per person, double occupancy, including a pre-cruise hotel stay in Fort Lauderdale for West Coast passengers. Air fare and port charges are not included.

Contact: Carolyn Edwards, Your Travel Center, 1005 Casitas Pass Road, Carpinteria, CA 93013; tel. (805) 684-6601.

History of Lithography

To kick off the bicentennial of lithography, Andante Travels of Salisbury, England, and Professor Michael Twyman, lithographic historian from the University of Reading, England, are offering a trip to the sites of early lithographic history for Dec. 30 to Jan. 11. Participants will fly to London, with coach travel to Paris, through the Rhine region, Munich, Paris and back to London. The itinerary in Germany includes inventor Alois Senefelder’s House and Deutsches Museum in Munich, the Solnhofen Stone Quarries, Stadtmuseum Offenbach and Gutenberg Museum (Mainz). In Paris guests see the Musee Delacroix Bibilotheque Nationale and in London the St. Bride Printing Library.

Cost: about $2,400 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, meals and sightseeing. Air fare is extra to London.

Contact: Cynthia Osborne, Department of Art, Cal State Long Beach, CA 90840; tel. (562) 985-7910.

Colonial Oaxaca

A guided tour to Oaxaca, Mexico, departs April 21 for six nights. Oaxaca has 16th century churches, pre-Columbian ruins and specialized folk art. The tour departs from San Diego, or travelers can join the tour in Mexico City.

Cost: $989 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare, motor-coach transportation, some meals, tours, gratuities and baggage handling. The price is $689 per person if starting in Mexico City.

Contact: Baja California Tours, 7734 Herschel Ave., Suite O, La Jolla, CA; 92037; tel. (619) 454-7166.

Sporting India

The Southern California Squash Assn.’s Grand Squash Tour of India runs Nov. 14 to 30. Guests will visiting New Delhi, Jaipur, Bombay, Calcutta, Varanasi and Agra. Six matches are prearranged, including the Chelmsford Club and Gymkhana Club (New Delhi), Cricket Club of India and Gymkhana Club (Bombay), Calcutta Racket Club.

Squash is played at a Maharaja’s palace. Guests will also ride an elephant to Jaipur’s Amber Fort and take a boat ride down the Ganges in Varanasi.

Cost: $2,350 per person, double occupancy, including hotels, daily breakfast, transfers and baggage handling, city tours, boat trip and elephant ride. Air fare is extra.

Contact: Jeremy and Megan Stone, 4325 Mentone Ave, Culver City, CA 90232; tel. (310) 838-0713 or (310) 451-2518 (office).

Bloody Good Romania

Dream Tours International, an operator specializing in tours to Romania, offers a Halloween tour to Transylvania and Budapest with an extension to Vienna. The tour runs Oct. 28 to Nov. 9. Transylvania and the myth of Dracula form the centerpiece of this eight-night tour, which begins in Brasov and visits Dracula’s Castle in Bran and the medieval town of Sighisoara.

On Halloween night, the group will attend an all-night party at the medieval Citadel of Brasov. People from all over the world will gather here for a night of fun and costumes. Dracula will make his “once-in-a-year� appearance.

The tour continues to Sinaia for a visit to Peles Castle, the former summer residence of the Romanian royal family, then on to Bucharest for sightseeing.

Guests continue to Budapest, the Hungarian capital, for three nights. There is time for sightseeing and optional tours of this twin-city on the Danube River. Those interested may board the hydrofoil along the Danube to Vienna for an additional three nights.

Cost: $999 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations, most meals, all transfers, sightseeing, guide, taxes and fees. Air fare is not included. Optional extension to Vienna is $892.

Contact: Dream Tours, 431 N. Brand Blvd. No. 211, Glendale, CA 91203; tel. (818) 956-8397.

Mexican Thanksgiving

Let everyone else eat turkey. You can escape to Mexico for Thanksgiving on a trip that leaves Nov. 22 for 11 days. Guests will visit Guadalajara and stay at the Hotel de Mendoza, and attend a performance of the Ballet Folklorico de Guadalajara one evening. They will take a walking tour and eat Thanksgiving dinner in San Miguel de Allende. Also on the itinerary is a boat ride on Lake Chapala, a tour of a tequila factory and tours of historical Queretaro and Guanajuato.

Cost: $1,215 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from L.A., hotels, two meals daily and bus service within Mexico.

Contact: Global Adventures, 350 N. El Camino Real, No. 36, Encinitas, CA 92024; tel. (800) 347-9468.

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