Grizzly Goings-On in British Columbia

Visit a new grizzly bear-watching site in the wilds of British Columbia. Natural Habitat Adventures is offering five, six and nine-day wildlife and photography adventures in September and October at Knight Inlet, a fiord on Canada’s Pacific coast.

Travelers arrive by float plane from Campbell River, Vancouver Island. Accommodations are in a secluded floating lodge perched against a waterfall-lined cliff. From there, guests see bald eagles and lush rain forest on the way to the grizzlies’ haven, where special platforms allow up-close photo opportunities. Guests also visit nearby Johnstone Strait, considered one of the best spots for seeing killer whales.

Cost: from $1,995 per person, double occupancy, including air fare between Campbell River and Knight Inlet, land and sea transportation, all accommodations and meals, rain gear and professional guide-naturalists and photographers. Air transportation to Vancouver is not included.

Contact: Natural Habitat Adventures, 2945 Center Green Court, Boulder, CO 80301; telephone (800) 543-8917.

Utah by Bike

Womantours of Driggs, Idaho, is offering a southwest Utah inn-to-inn bicycle tour Sept. 20 to 28. The tour, planned for women riders of all levels of experience, visits Zion, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon national parks and Cedar Breaks National Monument. A support van accompanies the tour to transport luggage and cyclists who want a break from pedaling. Accommodations include lodgings at Bryce Canyon Lodge, Grand Canyon Lodge cabins, Brian’s Head Ski Resort Hotel and Cliff Rose Lodge near Zion National Park.

Cost: $1,160 per person, includes eight nights’ lodging, guides, all dinners and breakfasts and four lunches. The trip begins and ends in Cedar City, Utah. Transportation to Utah is not included.

Contact: Womantours, P.O. Box 931, Driggs, ID 83422; tel. (800) 247-1444.

England In and Out

Enjoy the best of city and countryside in England on a 16-day tour that begins Sept. 2. The tour emphasizes literature, theater and music. Guests will stay in B&Bs; with thatched roofs or in small hotels. Participants will have tea at the Cambridge Hotel, then enjoy evensong at King’s College Chapel, also in Cambridge. After a leisurely walk through the Cotswolds, guests will watch the Royal Shakespeare Company perform in Stratford-on-Avon. The group will spend a weekend in the 17th century manor house of Castle Combe on the Avon before visiting Wells Cathedral and the Abbey of Glastonbury, where Arthur and Guinevere are reputed to be buried.

Guests will tour Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace in London and see a play in the recently finished replica of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Members will see the landscapes that inspired the American poet Robert Frost in Gloucestershire and the Wye Valley setting of Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey.”

Cost: $3,159 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, breakfast daily and six dinners, motor coach transportation and guides. Not included: lunches and nine dinners, entrance fees, optional guided tours, plays and concerts.

Contact: Jim and Lynette Armstrong; tel. (714) 528-7004 or Passports Travel at (508) 885-4600.

New Mexican Nights

A New Mexico Night Life tour focuses on culture, history and scenery in the Land of Enchantment Aug. 21 to 26.

Guests will be welcomed to New Mexico with a sunset view on the Sandia Peak Tramway outside of Santa Fe. The second evening features a night walk through prehistoric ruins of Bandelier National Monument, where the Anasazi people carved their homes out of the canyon walls. On this night, guests have the opportunity to watch thousands of bats as they depart from caves for their night’s hunt. Participants will attend a performance of “La Traviata” at the open-air Santa Fe Opera and see a flamenco performance.

The tour includes a visit to the annual Santa Fe Indian Market, where American Indian arts are juried and available for purchase.

Guests will also visit artists’ studios. Lodging is at the Radisson Hotel in Santa Fe for four nights, followed by one night at the Salsa Del Salto Bed and Breakfast Inn, just north of Taos.

Cost: $975 per person, double occupancy, including land transportation, lodging, nine meals, tramway ride, entrance into three museums with docent, national monument entrance with guide, opera ticket, flamenco performance, storytelling segment and Taos Pueblo entrance fee. The tour does not include air fare to and from Albuquerque, where the tour begins and ends.

Contact: Aventura Artistica, 151 Sherry Lane, Del Mar, CA 92014; tel. (800) 808-7352.

Farming and French

Get a complete immersion into French language, culture and traditions in a farm-stay program in southwestern France, near Pau, about 30 minutes from Spain. French students are hosted for three weeks on large, modern farms and have their own private rooms.

Because the cost is low, in exchange, the students contribute a few hours of light work per day with their host family. The host families are eager to help their guests improve their French communication skills. The desire for cultural exchange is the main focus on this trip. Available dates are July 5, July 26, Aug. 16, and Sept. 6.

Cost: $600 per person, including private room and meals. Air fare to France is not included.

Contact: American Cultural Exchange, 8530 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 404, Beverly Hills, CA 90211; tel. (310) 854-5020.

Sojourn in Greece

Savor the ancient wonders of Greece during a 15-night tour (available dates Nov. 2, Jan. 4 or March 8) that begins in Athens. Travelers take a full-day excursion to the Corinth Canal and the site of ancient Mycenae.

Participants venture onward to Epidaurus to visit its well-preserved 4th century BC theater and enjoy a half-day tour of Marathon. Art enthusiasts will learn about Greek art and architecture with a full-day trip to Delphi. Here they will view the Sanctuary of Apollo, the Treasury of the Athenians and the Temple of Apollo. The venture continues to Cape Sounion, the southernmost point of Attica, to explore the ancient white pillars of the Temple of Poseidon.

Cost: from $2,299 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare, tour managers, accommodations, transfers, most meals and excursions, airport taxes, gratuities, baggage handling, and medical and flight insurance.

Contact: Smithsonian Odyssey Tours; tel. (800) 258-5885.

Civil War Sites

HistoryAmerica Tours explores the Civil War on a tour called “The Coastal War: Hampton Roads and the North Carolina Sounds.” The tour, which begins in Norfolk, Va., runs Oct. 25 to Nov. 1 and will be led by historian Edwin C. Bearss of the National Park Service. This tour gives a comprehensive look into the amphibious operations employed by the Union Army and Navy against Southern forces in Tidewater, Va., and along the coast of North Carolina.

Among the Virginia and North Carolina sites on the tour are Fort Monroe, where Confederate President Jefferson Davis was imprisoned; the site of the 1862 Siege of Yorktown; the Outer Banks at Cape Hatteras National Seashore; and Hatteras Inlet, where tour members will learn about Gen. Benjamin Butler’s capture of Confederate forts. Also included is the amphibious assault of Roanoke Island, and the siege of Plymouth, Ft. Macon and Beaufort. The tour concludes in Raleigh, N.C.

Cost: $1,195 per person, double occupancy, including motor coach transportation, hotel accommodations, most meals, admissions and guides. Air fare is extra.

Contact: HistoryAmerica Tours, P.O. Box 797687, Dallas, TX 75379; tel. (800) 628-8542.

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