Bordeaux Tour Is a Trip for All Seasonings

A 14-day cooking and travel tour that combines sightseeing in southwest France with eight hands-on cooking classes is scheduled from Oct. 1 to 16. Participants also will eat dinners in various styles of restaurants, hear lectures on French culinary traditions and visit vineyards, cheese factories, plum orchards and duck farms.

Cost: $1,990 per person, double occupancy, including accommodations at Chateau Le Temple in Bordeaux, breakfast and dinner daily, most lunches, all transfers and several sightseeing excursions. Air fare to France is extra.

Contact: Diana O’Regan at San Simeon Travel, 1253 Knollwood Circle, Suite 102, Cambria, CA 93428; telephone (800) 266-3359.

Winter in Sicily

A 17-day tour leaves Jan. 2 to the mild Mediterranean and Sicily, Italy, a crossroads of Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Norman and Spanish cultures. John Barker, a professor of classic and medieval history from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, will lead the tour. The itinerary starts in Sicily’s capital, Palermo, and continues on to Cefalu, with its Norman cathedral and mosaics, then on to the major Greek sites of Segesta, Selinunte, Agrigento and Siracusa. Also visited will be Catania, Taormina, Messina and the Roman imperial villa at Casale near Piazza Armerina. After crossing the Strait of Messina, participants will explore the Doric Greek temples of Paestum, the excavated Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and the well-preserved Roman villa of Oplontis. They also will travel through Sorrento and Naples, and then on to Rome.

Cost: $2,888 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from Los Angeles, ground transportation by private deluxe coach, first-class hotels, daily breakfast, 10 dinners and all sightseeing and admission fees.

Contact: University Educational Travel; tel. (800) 525-0525.

Canary Islands

Uniworld is offering a cruise to the Canary Islands and Morocco aboard the 400-passenger Switzerland, the flagship of the Swiss company, Leisure Cruises. The seven-day cruise starts and ends in Funchal, on the Portuguese island of Madeira. It visits four Canary Islands (La Palma, Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Lanzarote) and Agadir on the Atlantic Coast of Africa.

In Agadir, passengers have an option of visiting Taroudannt, a historic Berber capital for more than 1,000 years, or taking a full-day excursion to the legendary city of Marrakech. Cruises will operate from November to March, the best time for cruising in the area.

Cost: $1,698 per person, double occupancy including air fare from Los Angeles, accommodations in an inside cabin with two lower beds. An upgrade to an outside cabin is $360 per person.

Contact: Uniworld Travel; tel. (800) 868-7905.

Here Fishy Fishy

Fly-fishing aficionados can join a three-day class that includes a camp-out at a private ranch in the foothills of the Los Padres National Forest.

The three-day course consists of one weekend day of instruction in Long Beach (Aug. 15) and the following weekend for the camp-out/fishing trip at the ranch site (Aug. 22 and 23) about an hour’s drive north of L.A.

The catch-and-release technique will be emphasized, but a certain number of fish may be kept. Cost: $185 per person, including all fly-fishing gear and camp-out with all meals and camping gear provided. Participants must provide their own transportation to the ranch site.

Contact: Adventure Outfitters, 2137 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90815; tel. (800) 430-2544.

Sail to South America

Whittier Elks Travel Club is hosting a cruise on Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Crown departing from Santiago, Chile, on March 13 and returning to Port Canaveral, Fla., on March 28.

Guests will fly to Santiago, board the ship at Valparaiso and stop at Antofagasta and Arica, Chile. The next stop is Callao, Peru, which is the port for Lima, for an optional tour of the Nazca lines on the Atacama Desert. Then the ship heads north to Salinas, Ecuador, and through the Panama Canal. The next stops include Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, George Town, Grand Cayman and Miami.

Cost: $2,447 per person, double occupancy, including cabin and all meals. Group air fare is available.

Contact: W.J. “Bill” Wallis; tel. (562) 943-4778.

Tropical Cruise

Marine Expeditions--a specialist in chilly ends-of-the-Earth cruises--is warming up with an Oct. 10 South Pacific island-hopper. Its 56-passenger Marine Spirit sails from Fiji to Tahiti via several isles in the Samoan chain and French Polynesia. Passengers can attend a lecture series and go bird-watching, snorkeling and hiking.

Cost: from $4,995 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from Los Angeles, 16 nights aboard ship, all meals, shore excursions and lectures.

Contact: Marine Expeditions; tel. (800) 263-9147.

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