Prices to Almost Everywhere Dip in January, When Smart Travelers Schedule Winter Vacations

A lot of people I know are already thinking of a vacation in the month of January, when prices drop to both tropical and trans-Atlantic destinations. If I were asked to advise them, I'd start by suggesting they give serious thought to the semi-independent tours of Costa Rica packaged by G Adventures ( www.gadventures.com ), which cost $1,199 throughout that month (plus the cost of airfare to that country) for near-daily departures. These arrangements place you for one hotel night in the capital city of San Jose, one night at the foot of the Arenal Volcano, 4 nights in a hotel along the beaches of Guanacaste, and one remaining night back in San Jose. You are brought from place to place by "Adventure Bus," which takes you direct to your hotel in each location. Meals other than breakfast are not included (and you are advised to budget $230-$300 for them).
 
If the person in question insists on taking an escorted group tour (and there are people like that), I would have to suggest they consider what appears to be the most popular group tour of Costa Rica ever offered. Caravan Tours (tel. 800/CARAVAN; www.caravan.com ) will take you by escorted motorcoach on a 10-night spin past nearly every important sight of Costa Rica, for a total of $995 in the early days of January, 2012, including quality accommodations, all three meals daily, daily escorted sightseeing and entrance fees. (Airfare to Costa Rica, for which you make your own arrangements, is not included). 

And it may come as a surprise that 7-night cruises of the Mediterranean continue to be offered throughout January by Costa Cruises and MSC Cruises, at remarkable rates. (In previous years, the cruiselines had wrapped up their Mediterranean programs by October and didn't resume until April). If you'll go to the website of any cruise discounter, you'll find numerous 7-night cruises of the Mediterranean offered in January (by Costa and MSC) for as little as $549 per person in inside cabins for a 7-night cruise, or $78 a day; $559 or $79 a day; $599 or $85 a day; $649 or $92 a day; lengthier cruises are occasionally available for even less than those daily sums, although you'll have to pay airfare (including taxes and fees) of $1,000 and more to reach the embarkation and debarkation ports for them.
 
And then, of course, there are those remarkable tours of China offered by China Focus Travel (www.chinafocustravel.com) and China Spree (www.chinaspree.com), priced in January at below $1,000 for a one-week tour of one or two cities -- like Beijing for 6 nights, or 6 nights split between Beijing and Shanghai (including round-trip air to China from San Francisco; China Spree has particularly good tours of this sort), and for as little as $1,299 in January for 9-night tours of four or five Chinese cities (the latter from China Focus).
 
There are no poems or songs about January similar to what we possess for September and April; but in the world of travel, January is rather exciting.