TOURS, ETC. : SCENIC SWISS COUNTRYSIDE FOCUS OF TRIP.

Byline: Daily News

A cog railway ride to Zermatt, a visit to a Gruyere cheese dairy and a journey on the Glacier Express railway are among the highlights of a 15-day tour of Switzerland.

Sponsored by Insight International Tours, the ``Country Roads of Switzerland'' tour visits such cities as Zermatt, Locarno, Interlaken and Lucerne, as well as Geneva and St. Moritz. The bus tour also takes participants into Italy for visits to Lake Como and Maggiore.

Trips are offered May through September. Cost is $2,025 per person, double occupancy, and includes first-class accommodations, transportation within Switzerland, some meals and sightseeing. Information: [phone].

Telluride without skiing A summer ``High Adventure Package'' that allows participants to choose from activities ranging from river rafting and historic jeep tours to hot-air ballooning and mountaineering is offered June 14-Oct. 3 by The Peaks Resort & Spa.

The five-night package is $2,000 per room, double occupancy. Guests are allocated 350 points, which they may spend on any of several activities. In addition, the package includes daily breakfast, access to the resort spa and recreational facilities such as tennis, squash and racquetball courts and an indoor climbing wall, aerobics classes, airport transfers and shuttle service to the town of Telluride. Information: [phone].

Royal cruise to Panama: You can combine a cross-country train trip with a cruise through the Panama Canal aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2 in a trip that departs Nov. 26 from Los Angeles.

The 11-day trip will call at Acapulco, Mexico, make a complete transit of the Panama Canal, and visit the Dutch West Indies and Nassau, the Bahamas, before docking in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Guests will return to Los Angeles aboard Amtrak or they fly home.

Prices range from $2,225 to $6,495 per person, double occupancy. Information: [phone].

Shark encounter: Now snorkelers can join their scuba-suited pals in seeing sharks close-up (from the safety of a pen) with San Diego Shark Diving Expeditions.

Half-day trips, priced at $150 per snorkeler, include boat transportation to a point off-shore where the encounters take place. Sharks are attracted to the boat with bait, then hand-fed by a steel-suited dive master as snorkelers, who rotate in and out of the pen, look on. Beverages and a light meal are provided; participants should bring their own wet suits and snorkel gear. [phone].

Russian aviation tour: A Russian aviation tour sponsored by the San Diego Aerospace Museum and escorted by Bob Feldman, professor of Russian history, will visit Moscow, St. Petersburg and Helsinki.

The Aug. 18-30 itinerary includes visits to the Moscow Aviation Air Show, the Russian Space Center at Star City and several other aviation museums.

The $3,695 tour price from Los Angeles includes all hotels and meals. East-West International Tours has details; call [phone].

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Photo: Zermatt, with its picturesque Matterhorn village, will be one of the stops on a 15-day tour of Switzerland.