Head South for the Hottest Bargains in Spring Trips

I know, I know, you’d rather get away right now, but if you can wait until March or thereabouts, you can enjoy reduced prices for several compelling air-and-land packages south of our border.

Peru: This five-night trip to the land of the Incas is $899 per person, including round-trip air fare from 10 U.S. gateways, among them Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. This package to Peru, the lowest I’ve seen, is from rock-solid Escapes Unlimited, telephone (800) 243-7227. It bundles three nights in Lima (with a tour of the old colonial quarter), a flight to the former Inca capital of Cuzco and two nights there, along with a visit to its ruins and a full day at Machu Picchu, the city of the Incas.

The $899 price is good from March through Dec. 31.

You can also book an overnight stay at Machu Picchu for as little as $60 more. Other available extensions include a stay in Cuzco and a two-day Amazon cruise.

Jamaica: Though the beach area known as Negril, on Jamaica’s northern coast, is no longer anybody’s secret little Caribbean getaway (that ended years ago), the ultra-casual, pleasantly funky resort known as Samsara is still too often overlooked.

Despite its winning, quintessentially Jamaican cooking, pretty location and cozy accommodations (there’s no air-conditioning, but you seldom need it), the prices haven’t caught up yet.

By booking through Jamaica specialist Sunburst Holidays, tel. (800) 786-2877, you can have seven nights there and round-trip air fare, between March 10 and June 16, for $599 from Los Angeles. That’s per person, two to a room. The West Coast rarely sees prices like this for travel to the Caribbean.

Mexico: You can experience some of the ancient world’s most spectacular sites up close and personal on an 11-night camping exploration with AmeriCan Adventures, tel. (800) 873-5872; Internet https://www.americanadventures.com.

Mostly twentysomethings (though there’s no age limit) travel in guided groups of up to 13 in an air-conditioned van. The itinerary includes the temples and pyramids of Chichen Itza, Uxmal and Palenque; the colonial splendors of Merida, Villahermosa, San Cristobal de las Casas and Balacar; charming coastal villages and the boom-boom resort of Cancun.

The package includes all meals and entrance fees, but some optional sports activities such as scuba and horseback riding are extra. Air fare is extra too. Dates are March 26 and April 19 for $689 and May 17 and June 7 for $709.

Cruising: A week in the Caribbean, sailing from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Mexico (Cozumel), Honduras (Roatan), Belize and Key West, Fla., can total as little as $319 per person, plus air fare to Florida.

It’s Premier Cruise Line’s IslandBreeze; the deal is available from cruise broker White Travel Service of West Hartford, Conn., tel. (800) 547-4790.

Departures are Sundays from March 5 through May 21, excluding April 9 and 16. The low price is per person, double occupancy.

Zihuatanejo: Here’s an early April bargain for West Coasters--seven nights at a beachside hotel in this quaint village on Mexico’s Pacific coast.

The big Suntrips/Sunquest combo, tel. (800) 357-2400, will run this trip on weekly (Wednesday) charter flights from San Francisco (and Denver).

In Zihuatanejo, 10 miles down the coast from the modern-high-rise, touristic enclave of Ixtapa, you’ll be housed for seven nights in the adobe-style Villa Mexicana on the calmest and best beach of the area, La Ropa. From April 26 to May 3, the total cost is $459 per person from San Francisco; from April 5 to 19, add $50.