Q & A
LEAD:  Vietnam  Question: Please name any groups sponsoring tours to Vietnam. -M. G. B., New York  Answer: A few tour companies that operate programs in Asia and the Pacific have begun to send small groups on tours to Vietnam. They have been putting packages together since the Vietnamese Government decided last year to allow American tourists to visit.
Vietnam  Question: Please name any groups sponsoring tours to Vietnam. -M. G. B., New York  Answer: A few tour companies that operate programs in Asia and the Pacific have begun to send small groups on tours to Vietnam. They have been putting packages together since the Vietnamese Government decided last year to allow American tourists to visit. Philippine Airlines, working with a tour company in Manila, Philippine Impex International, says it has scheduled monthly departures through next March. Its prices of $2,083 a person (double occupancy) for a 10-day package and $2,823 for 17 days, include round-trip flight from American cities to Manila and then on to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). Hanoi is also visited. The airline says the tours are escorted and rates include visa, hotel accommodations, three meals a day, sightseeing and travel within Vietnam by plane and bus. Two nights are spent at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Manila. Reservations may be made through travel agents or Philippine Airlines (212-575-7854 or 800-554-5444).
Orient Flexi-Pax Tours offers seven- and nine-day tours of Vietnam from Bangkok as an extension of its other packages in the Orient. The seven-day visit focuses on Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi and costs $1,179; the nine-day itinerary also takes in Da Nang, Hue, Dalat and other cities and is $1,659. Domestic flights on Air Vietnam as well as hotels, all meals, sightseeing and guides are included, along with round-trip flight from Bangkok on Thai Airways International or Air France. Orient Flexi-Pax Tours (630 Third Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017; 212-692-9550 or 800-223-7460) says accommodations are comfortable but not luxurious. It prefers to work with travel agents.
Lindblad Travel (Post Office Box 912, 1 Sylvan Road North, Westport, Conn. 06881; 203-226-8531 or 800-243-5657) has scheduled a series of 16-day tours from Seattle, starting in November, that combines Vietnam with Cambodia (visiting Angkor Wat) and Thailand. Price of $2,500 includes flights in Vietnam and Cambodia but not international air fares.  Italian Island  Question: I have tried unsuccessfully to obtain information on visiting Procida in the Bay of Naples. Please give details for the visitor, including accommodations. - M. A. M., Queens  Answer: Procida, two miles long, offers a quieter alternative to its much busier, larger island neighbors of Ischia and Capri. It has attractive rolling landscapes, with much of the terrain devoted to grapes and citrus fruits, and rocky coves and inlets and several beaches. Fishing, rather than tourism, is a major occupation. This volcanic island may be reached by boat from Naples, Pozzuoli, Ischia and Capri. Among hotels is the Arcate (16 Via Marcello Scotti; telephone, 8967120), the largest, with 38 rooms, which has a restaurant and private beach. The Riviera (36 Via Giovanni da Procida; 8967197), with 23 rooms, and L'Oasi (16 Via Ellery; 8967499), 16 rooms, both have a restaurant. Rooms for two cost $25 to $40 a day. Among the island's pensiones is Savoia (32 Via Lavaddera; 8967488).
A list of apartments and small villas for rent the year round can be had from the Tourist Information Office (93 Via Roma, 80079 Procida; 8969624). Procida does not have a telex number but messages may be sent by telex to the tourist office in Ischia Porto on Ischia (telex number, 991464), which keeps in touch.
There are frequent boat services. Naples is about an hour away; a hydrofoil does the journey in 35 minutes.  Mexico  Question: We would like to visit American settlements in Mexico with the idea of perhaps relocating in one of them. Where are they? Are there any sources of information? -F. A. F., Spring Hill, Fla.  Answer: One of the largest concentrations of North American residents is found around Lake Chapala, about 35 miles southeast of Guadalajara. The lake, the largest in Mexico, is on the central plateau, a region favored by many foreigners for its pleasant climate the year round and clean air. The Chula Vista Country Club, which is populated almost entirely by Americans, Canadians and British, the resort town of Chapala and Vista del Largo are among communities there.
Other areas with a substantial colony from the United States include San Miguel de Allende, the colonial town that has attracted Americans since the establishment of an art school there in the 1930's. It now has several cultural institutions. Guanajuato, near San Miguel, has many American residents and so do the areas around the cities of Oaxaca, Morelia and Mazatlan, the port on the Pacific coast. A retirement community modeled after the Sun City areas in Florida and other states and a more expensive country club-style property are planned north of Mazatlan.
One source of information for visitors is the Newsletter on Travel and Retirement published by Lloyd Wilkins (Apartado Postale 31-70, Guadalajara 45050, Jalisco, Mexico). It gives information on cost of living, medical facilities and other topics and reports on specific areas where Americans have settled. The annual subscription is $12 for six issues.
A 1983 book, 'Travel and Retirement Edens Abroad' ($12.95), published by Scott, Foresman of Glenview, Ill., has a section on Mexico. The book has been revised and a 1988 edition, to be published in conjunction with the American Association of Retired Persons, is scheduled to appear next January. 'Fielding's Mexico' ($12.95) and 'Mexico' in the Insight Guides series ($15.95) will probably be useful to someone planning an exploratory trip.  New Hampshire  Question: Do you know of any small inns in New Hampshire where we could play tennis on the property? - B. B. K., New York  Answer: Among several are the Dana Place Inn (20 Pinkham Notch Road, Jackson, N.H. 03843; 603-383-6822), which has two hard-surface courts, and the Franconia Inn (Easton Valley Road, Franconia, N.H. 03580; 603-823-5542), with four clay courts. Another is the Inn at Crotched Mountain (Mountain Road, Francestown, N.H. 03043; 603-588-6840), two clay courts.