If a self-catering apartment in the heart of Venice or Florence is your dream vacation, Check out Untours. Destinations include Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

Untours vacations include optional roundtrip airfare, 14 nights in a fully furnished vacation rental (cottage, flat, or farmhouse), ground transportation (car rental, train pass, or city transit tickets), and transfer assistance. An orientation meeting covers tips for getting around, a calendar of events and suggestions for day trips. Travelers explore at their own pace.

Bottom line: Two weeks in Florence, $2,689; 2 weeks in Barcelona, $2,849; and the Florence-Rome-Venice sampler (one week in each location) starts at $4,479. Prices are per person, double occupancy and include roundtrip airfare from New York.

Named one of the world's top 10 travel bargains by Arthur Frommer, Untours donates nearly all of its profits to charitable causes across the globe through the Untours Foundation, which has distributed $5 million to projects around the world in low-interest loans. www.untours.com.

DEATH VALLEY

EXPECT FULL BLOOM IN SPRING '08, THANKS TO RECENT DESERT RAINS

If you're planning to visit Death Valley next spring, you could be in for a treat. Recent heavy desert rains have caused speculation about a dazzling spring bloom on the valley floor next year. Death Valley is home to more than 1,000 species of wildflowers, and in that special spring after a wet fall and winter, the brown desert landscape is carpeted with Technicolor fields of blossoms.

EASTER ISLAND

LUXURY RESORT TO OPEN ITS DOORS BY YEAR'S END ON RAPA NUI

Remote Easter Island, famous for its enigmatic moai statues, is getting its first luxury resort: Explora en Rapa Nui. The 30-room resort combines futuristic podlike design with natural materials like native volcanic rock and Chilean rauli wood, and offers

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