Cigar Weekly

Where: Scandinavia

When: Jan 17, Jan 31, Mar 14 and April 4.

Cost: Cost: From $4860pp twin share

Details: (02) 9020 5800, www.myplanet australia.com

PACK the woollies and you can join an escorted My Planet journey to Lapland in winter, the eight-day Scandinavia adventure priced from $4860 per person twin share.

Starting in the Norway capital of Oslo, the tour includes a stay at the Kakslauttanen Igloo village in the Finnish Lapland (in a glass igloo) and, weather permitting, the breathtaking Northern Lights.

There's also a cruise in an icebreaker and a reindeer safari before visiting the home of Santa Claus in Rovaniemi before the tour ends in Stockholm.

Jiving in Jamaica

Where: Jamaica

When: Until December 24.

Cost: From $660pp twin share

Details: 1300 554 175, www.studentflights.com.au

FOR a wild time in the Caribbean, there's a five-night Jamaican getaway that will have you sunbathing on a beach with the sounds of reggae nearby.

Available from Student Flights, a travel company which caters for young, budget-conscious travellers, the package, from $660 per person twin share, includes accommodation at the new Rooms on the Beach Hotel, and return airport transfers from Montego Bay airport.

The package, on sale until December 1, includes a number of escorted tours, one along the island's south coast.

Return airfares to Jamaica are extra.

Relax as you rail

Where: Europe

When: Year-round

Cost: From $429

Details: 1300 555 003, www.railplus.com.au

RAIL travellers can venture between London and Paris or Brussels in style in Eurostar's premier business class, complete with entry to station lounges that offer complimentary snacks, beverages and fast track check-in.

There's also first class seating on board, along with a three-course meal and wine.

Rail Plus one-way fares are $542 per person for London to Paris or Brussels, and $429 per person from London to Lille or Calais.

Cuban wheels

Where: Cuba

When: Monthly departures until December.

Cost: From $815pp

Details: 13 47 82, www.statravel.com.au

IF the Tour de France has put you in a spin, STA Travel has a bicycle adventure that won't have you puffing -- in Cuba.

The discount holiday company can put the wheels in motion cycling through the Caribbean country, staying in comfortable hotels and enjoying tasty cuisine.

A visit to the garden province of Pinar del Rio, famous for its tobacco fields and traditional cigar factory, is included on an eight-day round trip ride from Havana.

Other highlights include a tour of the capital, the mountain vistas and beaches of Cayo Jutias, the scenery along the Jagua Viaja road to La Palma and a traditional creole meal at a farmhouse.

Price starts at $815pp (plus local payment).

Cheap Kiwi thrills

Where: New Zealand

When: October 15, 2008 to December 30, 2009

Cost: From $1550pp twin share

Details: www.aatkings.com

FORGET the rivalry with the All Blacks: New Zealand is popular with Australian travellers, especially as a budget destination.

AAT Kings has a low cost eight-day escorted tour -- Northern Highlights -- that takes in the best of North Island with visits to capital Wellington, Rotorua and its bubbling springs, Waitomo Caves, cosmopolitan Auckland and the appealing Bay of Islands.

Priced from $1550 per person twin share (land only), the tour looks at Te Papa, New Zealand's National Museum, Lake Taupo, Huka Falls, the Glow Worm Grotto at Waitamo Caves and Cape Brett on a cruise across the Bay of Islands.

Passengers will also have the chance to tuck into a traditional hangi underground oven feast.

Savings for the low cost tour apply to bookings before September 30 for travel from mid-October this year until September 30, 2009.

Smart Korea moves

Where: North Korea

When: From August 26, 2009

Cost: From $9674pp twin share

from Sydney

Details: 1800 641 236, www.traveldirectors.com.au

AS an antidote to any post-Olympic blues, Travel Directors has a new escorted adventure, taking in the extraordinary Mass Games in North Korea.

This spectacular event features thousands of traditionally dressed participants in a synchronised display of dancing and gymnastics.

It is held every year in the capital Pyongyang and is at the heart of the Travel Directors' new 26-day Remote Wonderlands tour.

Starting and finishing in Beijing, the tour also features a train ride on the Trans-Manchurian, Trans-Siberian and Trans-Mongolian railways.

A week will be spent in the closeted Democratic People's Republic of Korea, before moving north to Irkutsk, capital of eastern Siberia, and vast Lake Baikal.

Then it's down through the Gobi Desert of Mongolia to Ulaanbaatar, before returning to Beijing.