DETAILS

Package Tours

There's no shortage of package tour operators for trips to Europe, which remain hugely popular with Americans despite the soaring cost of jet fuel and the painful euro exchange rate. For a list of credible providers, searchable by destination, contact the United States Tour Operators Association (212-599- 6599, http://www.ustoa.com/ ). Major providers of big-bus European tours include:

· Collette Vacations (800-340-5158, http://www.collettevacations.com/ ), whose "Magnificent Cities of Central and Eastern Europe" tour, a 14-day hopscotch from Berlin to Prague to Vienna to Budapest to Krakow to Warsaw, runs $1,999 to $2,099 per person double, depending on the season, not including airfare or tips for guide and driver. Collette, one of the oldest and largest package tour operators in the country, offers 39 other European group tours, from Great Britain to Greece and Turkey.

· Britain's Trafalgar Tours (866- 544-4434, http://www.trafalgartours.com/ ), with a sizable U.S. operation, has more than a dozen package itineraries in Central and Eastern Europe, including a similar 18-day trip taking in Berlin, Budapest, Vienna and Prague for $2,599 per person double, not including airfare.

· Massachusetts-based Grand Circle Travel (800-959-0405, http://www.gct.com/ ) was for years the tour service arm of AARP. Now it markets to all "mature Americans," offering more than 50 European itineraries, as diverse as canal cruises in Holland, the Christmas markets of Rhine and a survey of Tuscan hill towns. The tours, in groups of 40 to 45, range from $1,245 to more than $6,000 per person double, including airfare from certain major U.S. cities. For smaller groups with a more adventurous conceit, at a premium price, see Grand Circle's subsidiary Overseas Adventure Travel (800-493-6824, http://www.oattravel.com/ .)

· Perrillo Tours (800-431-1515, http://www.perillotours.com/ ), a third- generation Italian American-owned company, specializes in that land of wine and pasta. It runs a range of high-end escorted coach tours of Italy beginning at $2,679 per person double, not including airfare.

-- Steve Hendrix