Trekking to Machu Picchu Via Gateway of the Sun

Southwind Adventures is offering an alternative to the popular, at times overused Inca Trail to Peru’s Machu Picchu. The shorter path minimizes the effects of high altitude while linking hikers with parts of the ancient Royal Road, including a dramatic entrance to the ruins on the last day of trekking through the Gateway of the Sun.

Suitable for families and less experienced hikers, the four-day, 20-mile trek includes two full days at Machu Picchu. Participants receive an introduction to Inca civilization in historic Cuzco and the Sacred Valley. Various dates are available for the 11-day trip.

Cost: from $2,945 per person, including lodging and most meals, camping services, ground transportation, transfers, private guides, porters and entrance fees. Air fare is extra.

Contact: Southwind Adventures; telephone (800) 377-9463, Internet https://www.southwindadventures.com.

Japan: Gardens

A 12-night “Art of Japanese Gardens” trip, conducted by Expo Garden Tours, offers tours in Tokyo, Kyoto and Hakone, with intensive coverage of flora. Guests will be tutored by a Japanese garden designer. The trip begins Sept. 3.

Cost: $8,795 per person, double occupancy, including air fare from Los Angeles, 12 nights’ lodging in five hotels, daily breakfast and most meals, guides and transfers.

Contact: Expo Garden Tours; tel. (800) 448-2685 or (860) 567-0322.

Alaska: Cruise

San Diego radio personality Ernie Meyers will escort a Canada/Alaska cruise departing from San Francisco on June 17 for 11 nights on the Sky Princess.

Ports of call include Vancouver, Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan and Victoria, where the Butchart Gardens should be in full bloom. Highlights of the cruise include the scenery of the Inside Passage and Hubbard Glacier. A private cocktail party and a question-and-answer session with Meyers are scheduled.

Cost: from $1,859 per person, including air fare from San Diego or Los Angeles, port taxes and transfers.

Contact: Top Flight Travel; tel. (800) 274-4359 or (619) 299-3005.

Paris: Great Writers

A literary tour of Paris, exploring authors’ homes and the landscapes that inspired them, runs June 19 to 27. Guests will visit the cafes where Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Joyce and other expatriates met. They will also pay homage to Baudelaire, Colette, Sartre and Proust at their graves. Participants will visit Proust’s bedroom (once lined with cork), now in a private section of a commercial bank.

One evening is spent enjoying French cuisine at Voltaire’s favorite restaurant, and another evening at Beckett’s favorite.

Guests will stay at the Grand Hotel St-Michel, a boutique inn in the Latin Quarter. The Parisian guide is a literary specialist.

A four-day art extension includes Monet’s garden at Giverny; an excursion to Auvers-sur-Oise, where Van Gogh spent his last months and where he is buried next to his brother Theo; and guided tours of the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay.

Cost: $2,690 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from New York, hotel with private bathroom, breakfast daily, some meals, guides, private motor coach, airport transfers, taxes and service charges.

Contact: Specialty World Travel; tel. (800) 242-2346, Internet https://www.specialtyworldtravel.com.

Arctic: Kayaking

Cruise and kayak near the North Pole on a 12-day trip that begins Aug. 9, when there is daylight nearly around the clock. Using the Russian ship Professor Molchanov as a “base camp,” participants will paddle among fiords and observe the Arctic’s wildlife, which includes walrus and migratory sea and land birds.

The ship will make a total circumnavigation of Spitsbergen and take trip members within 600 miles of the North Pole. When not paddling, trip members will enjoy walks among the wildflowers of the tundra. The trip is best suited for those with some previous sea kayaking experience. The 12-day voyage departs from Longyearbyen on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen.

Cost: from $4,050 per person, double occupancy, including all accommodations, meals and activities. Air fare is extra.

Contact: Southern Sea Ventures; tel. (888) 283-0954, Internet https://www.southernseaventures.com.

Greece: Ancient Cultures

The Classical Alliance of the Western United States is offering a Greek Odyssey departing June 12 and returning July 2. David Leitao, classics professor at San Francisco State University, will offer lectures throughout the tour.

The itinerary includes Athens and the mainland (Meteora, Verghina, Thessaloniki, Delphi), the Peloponnesus (Patras, Olympia, Sparta, Corinth, Mycenae, Tiryns, Epidaurus) and several Greek islands (Rhodes, Crete, Mykonos, Delos and Santorini). Museums and sites visited emphasize the Classical, Hellenistic and Byzantine treasures of Greece.

Cost: $3,696 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip air fare from Los Angeles, first-class hotels, most meals, guides and admissions to all museums.

Contact: Charles Smith, CAWS program coordinator; tel. (800) 862-6220 or (619) 300-2323.

California: Rafting

Pacific Sports Tours calls its rafting vacation on the South Fork of the American River in Sacramento the “Wine Water Rafting Trip” because after a day of wild rafting, guests gather to taste local wines. The trip runs June 9 to 11. White-water rafting in this section of the river is open to first-time rafters. Saturday evening there will be a slide show of guests rafting on the river. The tasting features bottles from local wineries.

Cost: $319 per person, double occupancy, including round-trip transportation from L.A. and Orange County via charter coach; two nights’ camping at a private campground, with a tent set up for two; and meals. Guests bring their own sleeping bags.

Contact: Dave Mazor, Pacific Sports Tours; tel. (310) 798-1234.

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