Escorted & Package Tours

Packages for the Independent Traveler

Package tours are simply a way to buy the airfare, accommodations, and other elements of your trip (such as car rentals, airport transfers, and sometimes even activities) at the same time and often at discounted prices.

One good source of package deals is the airlines and train companies themselves. Most major airlines offer air/land packages, including Southwest Airlines Vacations (tel. 800/243-8372; www.swavacations.com); American Airlines Vacations (tel. 800/321-2121; www.aavacations.com), Delta Vacations (tel. 800/221-6666; www.deltavacations.com), Continental Airlines Vacations (tel. 800/301-3800; www.covacations.com), and United Vacations (tel. 888/854-3899; www.unitedvacations.com). Several big online travel agencies -- Expedia.com, Travelocity, Orbitz, Site59, and Lastminute.com -- also do a brisk business in packages. Amtrak Vacations (tel. 800/268-7252; www.amtrakvacations.com) offers train packages.

Travel packages are also listed in the travel section of your local Sunday newspaper. Or check ads in the national travel magazines such as Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel Magazine, Travel + Leisure, National Geographic Traveler, and Condé Nast Traveler.

Escorted General-Interest Tours

Not many escorted tours are offered in New Mexico. The tour companies I spoke to said most visitors to New Mexico have such disparate interests it's difficult to create packages to please them. Still, a few tour companies can help you arrange a variety of day trips during your visit and can also secure lodging. Tauck World Discovery (tel. 800/788-7885; www.tauck.com), 10 Norden Place, Norwalk, CT 06855, offers weeklong cultural trips to New Mexico. Destination Southwest, Inc., 20 First Plaza Galeria, Suite 212, Albuquerque, NM 87102 (tel. 800/999-3109 or 505/766-9068; www.destinationsouthwest.com), offers an escorted tour to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Rojotours & Services, P.O. Box 15744, Santa Fe, NM 87506-5744 (tel. 505/474-8333), can help with a variety of day trips during your visit.

Special-Interest Trips

New Mexico is in the process of developing a network of special-interest trips that I'm certain will expand in upcoming years. To learn more, check out the useful website offered by the New Mexico Department of Tourism: www.nmtourism.org/siteseeing/index.php. Click on "Tour Operators" and you'll find a variety of offerings covering almost any interest.

My favorite operator is Santa Fe Mountain Adventures (tel. 800/965-4010 or 505/988-4000; www.santafemountainadventures.com), which combines outdoor adventures such as hiking and river running with cultural activities such as visits to pueblos or museums, and with more relaxing ones such as spa treatments and meditation practices. See the earlier section on ecotourism for more details.

Jane Butel Cooking School, 2655 Pan American NE, Suite F (tel. 800/473-8226 or 505/243-2622; www.janebutel.com), offers weeklong and weekend packages with a hotel stay and full-participation classes. The weekend classes are held in noted chef and television personality Jane's Butel's home kitchen in Corrales, a village along the Rio Grande on the edge of Albuquerque. The weeklong classes are in Santa Fe.

Some of the world's most outstanding photographers convene in Santa Fe at various times during the year for the Santa Fe Photography & Digital Workshops, P.O. Box 9916, Santa Fe, NM 87504, at a delightful campus in the hills on the east side of town (tel. 505/983-1400; www.santafeworkshops.com). Most courses are full-time, lasting a week. Food and lodging packages are available.

Bicycle Adventures, P.O. Box 11219, Olympia, WA 98508 (tel. 800/443-6060 or 360/786-0989; www.bicycleadventures.com) offers tours to New Mexico. Riders get to experience some of the region's most lovely routes, such as the High Road to Taos and the Enchanted Circle. Participants visit major sights such as Santa Fe's Canyon Road and Taos Pueblo, and can even opt for a river trip. In business for 23 years, this company knows how to put together a good tour.

If you'd like to pursue an artistic adventure, check out the weeklong classes in such media as painting, Native American pottery making, and weaving offered by Taos Art School (tel. 505/758-0350; www.taosartschool.org). This organization is especially known for its weaving and horseback-riding creative "odyssey." Open since 1989, the school is a virtual campus in which classes go where they need to be. For instance, a painting class on Georgia O'Keeffe is held in Abiquiu, a Pueblo pottery class at Taos Pueblo, and a class on the churches in New Mexico is held at five different churches in the region. The fees vary from class to class and include lodging and meals.