Discount airfare to lima

Budget Travel

April to June is bargain travel time

By ARTHUR FROMMER

Sunday, March 3, 2002

By most accounts, international air travel remains down by 15% to 20%, and bargain vacations continue to be prevalent in almost every resort area and overseas destination to which vacationing Americans fly.

I've chosen 10 widely scattered best buys available after Easter week and continuing through the end of June that seem typical of the opportunities available to people with true wanderlust:

Belize: This English-speaking Central American nation is probably the hottest new location in the tropics, and part of the reason is the low cost of vacationing there. Immediately after Easter week in early April and continuing through the month of June, at a cost of $599 from Miami, $674 from New York and $884 from Los Angeles, you'll receive round-trip airfare and seven nights in a beachfront hotel in the town of San Pedro on Belize's offshore island of Ambergris Caye, where the reality television show "Temptation Island" was filmed. Capricorn Leisure -- (800) 426-6544, www.capricorn.net -- makes the arrangements.

Rio: The remarkably low exchange rate of the Brazilian currency, blamed by some for creating an economic crisis in neighboring Argentina -- has brought a torrent of tourism to Rio de Janeiro. From April until late June, you can buy an air-and-land package to Rio from Miami for only $749 from South American Fiesta -- (800) 334- 3782, www.southameri canfiesta.com -- which flies you round-trip to the Carioca capital and puts you up for seven nights with breakfast at a hotel directly on famous Copacabana Beach.

Peru: What is perhaps travel's most colorful vacation package is offered by Analie Tours -- (800) 811-6027, www.analietours.com -- to Lima, Cuzco and Machu Picchu, Peru. For $779 from April until June 2, it'll fly you round trip from Miami to Lima, put you up for two nights in that capital city, and then take you for four nights to the Andean city of Cuzco, where you'll enjoy a full-day excursion with lunch to the Incas' incomparable mountaintop citadel of Machu Picchu. The price also includes internal air and train transportation within Peru.

London: We've written repeatedly about those air-and-land packages to London in winter that sell for only $399 from the East Coast. That rate disappears at the end of March, but it's good to remember that from April 1 until June 12, the same package -- round-trip air to London, and six nights with breakfast daily at a modest hotel -- will be sold for only $599 per person, which is still less than airfare to London would normally cost at that time. The tour operator is an Internet service called Go-today.com (www.go-today.com), and the favorable reaction to its services is such as to make it a potent new force in vacation travel.

Ireland: This past winter, Sceptre Ireland -- (800) 221-0924, www.sceptreireland.com -- brought you a one-week stay on the Emerald Isle for as little as $399 and $499. During the far more desirable month of May, the same company charges a still reasonable $679 per person for round-trip air to Shannon or Dublin from New York, Boston or Baltimore, a car with unlimited mileage for the week and vouchers good for six nights at your choice of 450 Irish farmhouses, with breakfast. The charge is only $80 more from Chicago.

Portugal: A week in Lisbon during the warm Portuguese month of May would, for most people, feel like being lifted from their fondest dreams. You can enjoy such a week, including round-trip airfare from New York on TAP Portuguese Airlines and six nights at a fine hotel with indoor heated pool and rooftop restaurant for only $599 per person. Additional nights run only $40 per person, single supplement $200. For details or to book, call Abreu Tours at (800) 223-1580, www. abreu-tours.com.

Hong Kong: After a shaky start under Chinese rule (touristically, that is), the former crown colony is again awash with visitors, and part of the reason is an abundance of well-priced air-and-land packages. From April to June 9, from Gate 1 -- (800) 682-3333, www.gate1travel.com -- round-trip air from Los Angeles and five nights at the good-quality 400-room Park Hotel are available for only $789 per person, with flights from New York only $106 more. Extra nights are just slightly more.

China: Frequently asked to recommend the top tour to China, I always answer that it's the 10-day, six-city air-and-land package operated by China Focus of San Francisco, (800) 868-7244, www.chinafocustravel.com. Though its price goes up to $1,299 per person in May and June, the package includes all meals, guides, lodging and airfare from San Francisco to Shanghai, Beijing, Suzhou, Qufu, Tai'an and Jinan, and with all those ingredients it's certainly a world's wonder. Alternately, you can fly from much of the rest of the country for $280 more.

Beijing: In May and June, the single least-expensive quick trip to China is an air-and-land package to Beijing operated by China Silk Tours -- (800) 945-7960, www.chinasilktour.com. For just $735 per person, the tour company will fly you there from Los Angeles, put you up for five nights at a fine hotel, throw in airport transfers, seven meals and two full-day tours to all the must-see sights: the Forbidden City, Imperial Palace, Great Wall and Ming Tombs. Extra sights only slightly more, same deal to Shanghai for $785, single room supplement of only $120.

Kiwi Land: The currency of New Zealand has plummeted, and one U.S. dollar currently buys 2 1/2 New Zealand dollars. Result: refreshingly low costs for almost everything. My advice for exploring this wild yet civilized country is a motor home. For $836, Sunspots International -- (800) 334-5623, www.sunspotsintl.com -- will fly you midweek from Los Angeles to New Zealand on Air Tahiti Nui and provide you with a Spirit Two RV with unlimited mileage for eight days, a discount pass to a great many New Zealand attractions and the right to extend your stay for very little more.

King Features Syndicate

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