QUESTION BOX
LEAD: Tulip Time Question:Where can one arrange a trip to the Netherlands in the spring when the tulips are in bloom? -M. C. H., Dolgeville, N.Y. Answer:An eight-day trip called Holland Holiday visits bulb fields, gardens and other sites in spring and summer, including April and May, when the tulips, daffodils and other flowers are in bloom.
Tulip Time Question:Where can one arrange a trip to the Netherlands in the spring when the tulips are in bloom? -M. C. H., Dolgeville, N.Y. Answer:An eight-day trip called Holland Holiday visits bulb fields, gardens and other sites in spring and summer, including April and May, when the tulips, daffodils and other flowers are in bloom. It is operated by Maupintour (408 East 50th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022; 212-688-4106 and 800-255-4266, which can be called from New York). Departures and return are on Saturdays. The itinerary includes the 70-acre Keukenhof Gardens at Lisse, the showcase of the bulb industry, as well as The Hague, the Delft pottery factory in Rotterdam and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. A guide accompanies each group and the land cost of $1,498 a person, double occupancy, includes hotels, 13 meals and tour bus. The tour uses KLM for the flight from New York to Amsterdam, which, depending on date, costs from $448 to $628, round trip.
Another way to see the spring flowers is from a 100-passenger ship that cruises along the canals and rivers of the Netherlands. A program combining this seven-night cruise and three nights in Amsterdam is offered by Sea Air Holidays (733 Summer Street, Stamford, Conn. 06901; 203-356-9033 and 800-732-6247). The price, excluding air fare but including most meals and sightseeing ashore, is $2,079. The cruise on its own costs from $1,199. The ship leaves Amsterdam on six consecutive Saturdays starting April 4. Battlefields Question:Where can I find information about escorted tours of the Normandy battlefields? - H. W., New York Answer:World War II sites in Normandy are included in tours from the United States and on shorter trips from Paris, all of them escorted. One of the longer ones, a 15-day 'March to Victory' tour, is offered by Battlefield Tours (1680 Old Spanish Trail, Slidell, La. 70458; 504-641-4422 or, out of state, 800-321-9412). The tour starts with a flight to London and a visit to Southampton, goes across the Channel by ferry to Cherbourg and continues to Caen, Paris, Rheims and Aachen, West Germany. The return flight is from Frankfurt. There are departures on June 26, Aug. 14 and Sept. 21, and the cost of $1,995 a person, double occupancy, includes trans-Atlantic round-trip air fare, hotels, most meals and guides.
Galaxy Tours (Post Office Box 234, Wayne, Pa. 19087; 215-254-6600 or 800-523-7287), which has organized visits to Normandy for 28 years, does a lot of trips for veterans of specific military units who want to retrace their own routes. But it also has a general tour, scheduled for June 1. The 10-day trip includes London and Paris as well as the beaches and other landmarks in Normandy. The land-only cost will be about $900 a person.
From Beach to Bastogne is the name of a nine-day trip, departing June 11 and Sept. 26, with Tours of Historic and Important Places (Post Office Box 203, Mountain Lakes, N.J. 07046; 201-335-8316). The cost of $1,599 includes air fare.
A one-day visit to the Normandy landing beaches and other sites can be taken from Paris through City Rama (347 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016; 212-683-8120). Its program is on Tuesday and Friday from April 17 through October. The one-day tour, by bus and back to Paris by train, costs $113, including lunch. Eleuthera Question:Would you please give some information on the Cotton Bay Club in Eleuthera, the Bahamas? I never see it mentioned any more. We stayed there some time ago. -M. F. P., Edison, N.J. Answer:By all accounts, the Cotton Bay Club near Rock Sound, Eleuthera, continues to flourish. The resort is one of the few in the Bahamian Family Islands with an 18-hole golf course, and it also has its own marina and four tennis courts. There are 77 rooms, about half of them in the main lodge, the remainder in cottages and villas in the gardens. Rates this winter are from $254 to $302 a day for two people, breakfast and dinner included. Reservations can be made through Hotels of Distinction (800-843-2297) or the Bahamas Reservation Service (800-327-0787). The address is: Cotton Bay Club, Post Office Box 28, Rock Sound, Eleuthera, Bahamas; 809-334-2101. Yugoslavia by Bus Question:Will there be bus tours of Yugoslavia next summer, and where can reservations be made? - J. F., Philadelphia Answer:Several tours are scheduled from April through October, many of them taking in the Dalmatian coast and visiting Dubrovnik. Some either begin or end in Zagreb, which, like Dubrovnik, is a gateway city for international flights. For travelers making their own way to Yugoslavia who are interested only in land arrangements, there are some Yugoslav travel agencies with respresentatives in New York that make reservations.
Among them are Atlas Ambassador (60 East 42d Street, New York, N.Y. 10165; 212-697-6767) and General Tourist (212 East 47th Street, New York, N.Y. 10017; 212-935-3022). Both offer escorted tours of eight days from about $420 a person, double occupancy. Their prices include hotels, with private shower or bath, most meals and sightseeing. Travel agents can book bus tours with Yugotours (350 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10118; 212-563-2400 or 800-223-5298), whose prices include international, round-trip air fare as well as hotels and two meals a day. A 10-day itinerary, including 2 nights in Dubrovnik, costs, from New York, from $958 to $1,308. Departures are on Tuesdays. A two-week tour, with visits to Belgrade and Sarajevo, leaves on Thursdays and is $1,209 to $1,598.
A Yugoslav bus tour is also available with Saga Holidays (120 Boylston Street, Boston, Mass. 02116; 617-451-6808 or 800-343-0273), which caters to travelers aged 55 and over and deals directly with the public. Saga has a 17-night trip, with four departures in April and three in May, all on Mondays. The tour includes one night in London on the outward and return journeys. Price, including round-trip air fare from New York, hotels and three meals a day: $1,409. Readers are invited to send written questions about travel to Q & A, Travel Section, The New York Times, 229 West 43d Street, New York, N.Y. 10036. Questions may be answered only through the column, not by mail or telephone.