A Sampling of Trips for the Upcoming Holidays : Thanksgiving and Christmas tours are planned to the California coast, the Southwest and Washington, D.C.

As the holiday season approaches, seniors with an interest in getting away have many organized tours from which to choose. Here are some of the planned excursions being offered by Southern California-based tour operators who specialize in senior travel:

* Corliss Tours offers 10 escorted trips, ranging from a five-day motor-coach “California Coastal Holiday” (with both Thanksgiving and Christmas departures) to an eight-day air and motor-coach tour to Washington, D.C., and Colonial Williamsburg, Va.

The latter, departing Dec. 19, includes such holiday fare as a performance at Ford’s Theatre; a Christmas concert at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; Christmas festivities in Colonial Williamsburg, plus sightseeing in Washington, Fredericksburg, Jamestown and Yorktown, Va. Cost is $1,099 plus air fare.

Other Corliss holiday tours include Thanksgiving in Boston and Plymouth, Mass.; Thanksgiving and Christmas in San Antonio, Tex., the latter including the Fiesta de las Luminarias; Christmas in Albuquerque, N.M., for its Luminarias Cavalcade; Christmas in Victoria, British Columbia, and a New Year’s tour to San Francisco.

* Gadabout Tours offers a dozen holiday trips, ranging from short Christmas motor-coach tours to Solvang (four days, $440) and the Sierra, including Christmas in Lake Tahoe (five days, $498), to a week’s “Country Christmas” in Nashville and Opryland and an eight-day “Cajun Christmas” in Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

Departing Dec. 19, the Cajun Christmas includes 10 meals, among which is a holiday brunch at Arnaud’s in New Orleans, and a Christmas Eve dinner cruise on the Mississippi aboard the Cajun Queen. There is plenty of sightseeing in Cajun country and New Orleans, plus a chance to view some of the stately mansions around Natchez, Miss. Cost is $1,398, including air fare.

Other Gadabout Christmas holiday trips visit Oaxaca, Mexico; Tucson, Ariz.; San Antonio, Tex.; San Francisco; Carmel and Monterey; Death Valley, and an eight-day Christmas cruise on Carnival Cruises’ Jubilee.

* Great Western Tours & Travel has tours for all three holidays, including a four-day Thanksgiving motor-coach tour to Furnace Creek Ranch in Death Valley and the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas (departing Nov. 24, $298), and a four-day motor-coach tour to San Francisco (Dec. 23, $569), with a two-night stay at the Sheraton Palace Hotel. The trip includes an overnight at the Claremont Resort in Oakland, with a lunch stop at the Madonna Inn.

* Trieloff Tours is planning two Christmas trips plus two more for New Year’s, in addition to two- or three-island tours to Hawaii that cover one or both holidays.

For Christmas, there’s an eight-day air and motor-coach tour to British Columbia with accommodations at The Empress hotel in Victoria (departing Dec. 20, $1,599), and a six-day air and motor-coach tour to San Antonio (Dec. 21, $899).

For New Year’s, Trieloff has a six-day motor-coach tour to Arizona (Dec. 28, $699), and a five-day air and motor-coach trip to Tucson (Dec. 27, $899).

* Westward Travel offers two motor-coach tours at Christmas. There is an eight-day Southwest tour featuring a stay in Albuquerque during the Luminarias Cavalcade, departing Dec. 21 and priced at $499.

Westward’s “Coastal Victorian Holiday” is a six-day trip up the coast to San Francisco featuring a visit to Hearst Castle, which will be illuminated for the holidays, plus stops at Monterey, Morro Bay and Sonora, in the wine country. Christmas will be spent in San Francisco at the Bedford Hotel. The tour, priced at $479, departs Dec. 23.

* For those who enjoy rail travel, The Next Stage offers a Thanksgiving train trip to San Francisco Nov. 26-29. Travel is in a private train along the Amtrak coastal route, with Thanksgiving dinner in the dining car. Included in the price of $700 are two nights at the Tucson Inn at Fisherman’s Wharf.

Prices given for all tours are per person, double occupancy.

For more information: Corliss Tours, (800) 456-5717 or (818) 359-5358; Gadabout Tours, (800) 952-5068 or (619) 325-5556; Great Western Tours & Travel, (800) 344-7090 or (818) 578-1161; Trieloff Tours, (800) 432-7125 or (714) 855-2126; Westward Travel, (800) 537-4602 or (310) 533-0888; The Next Stage, (213) 939-2688.