Family warmth
Have your warm spirits started to freeze? Parents magazine has named the Top 10 "Warm-Weather Family Getaways." Based on safety, quality and kid-friendliness, the winners are:
* Hyatt Regency, Scottsdale, Ariz. (800) 233-1234
* The Breakers, Palm Beach, Fla. (800) 833-3141
* Hyatt Regency Hill Country, San Antonio, Texas (800) 233-1234
* Boca Raton Resort & Club, Boca Raton, Fla. (800) 327-0101
* Allegro Caribbean Village, Playa del Carmen, Mexico (800) 858-2258
* Kona Village Resort, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii (800) 367-5290
* Franklyn D. Resort, Runaway Bay, Jamaica (800) 654-1337
* Palmas del Mar, Humacao, Puerto Rico (800) 725-6270
* The Westin Mission Hills, Rancho Mirage, Calif. (800) 999-8284
* Colony Beach and Tennis Resort, Long Boat Key, Fla. (800) 426-5669
In search of Dracula
Blood-thirsty? Herodot Travel of Mill Valley, Calif., is offering 22-day tours (starting March 28 and Sept. 6) called "The Truth About Dracula." The package is one of four new voyages into history that follow in the footsteps of the famous. It will trace the life of Prince Vlad Dracul, also known as Vlad the Impaler, and will include four days in Istanbul, Turkey, as well as visits to Bucharest and other Romanian cities. The cost is $4,500 from New York, which includes first-class and deluxe hotels, meals, -- guides, transfers, tips, taxes and airfare. Call (415) 381-4031.
From Russia, with love
It seems that the increased American interest in travel to Russia has prompted the Russian government to establish a national tourist office in New York, its first in the United States. The once centralized tourist administration of the Soviet Union, which included Intourist, the agency that handled most aspects of international tourism, has dispersed into about 7,500 tour operators since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The Russian National Tourist Office, which opened in December, is at 800 Third Ave., Suite 3101, New York, N.Y. 10022; (212) 758-1162, fax (212) 758-0933.
African-American history in St. Augustine, Fla.
In the shadow of a 300-year-old Spanish fort, St. Augustine, Fla. -- America's Oldest City -- offers visitors some of the most significant African-American historical sights in the nation. With an archaeology excavation of a plantation outbuilding, tours of Lincolnville, a nearby black community listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and remnants of a fort where blacks fought with the Spanish against the British, St. Augustine presents a lesson in African-American history for all Americans.
To commemorate Black History Month, the Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board will conduct an archaeology excavation in Lincolnville. Lincolnville was initially named "Africa" and was renamed in honor of Abraham Lincoln. Visitors are invited to observe the dig Feb. 3 though March 6 and talk with archaeologists about the finds and the history of the area. Tours of the Lincolnville historic district are organized by Tour St. Augustine -- (904) 471-9010 -- and Merry Way Tours -- (904) 825-0922.
For more information, contact the St. Augustine and St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce at (800) 653-2489.
Fans of the TV show "China Beach" may be interested to know that plans are under way to transform Vietnam's China Beach into a $250 million tourist complex, according to a recent edition of the Passport Newsletter.