Thailand, Cambodia and Laos have joined forces to promote the “Emerald Triangle”, where the borders of the three countries meet, counterpart to the more-familiar Golden Triangle, where the borders of Laos and Thailand meet Burma. Gecko Travel is to run its first series of tours from February 3.

The new 16-day programme packs it in: historic sites range from prehistoric rock paintings in the Pha Taem National Park to the mountaintop ruins of Preah Viharn, and more Khmer ruins at Champassak, where you hitch a ride on an elephant.

There will be a boat trip among the 4,000 islands of the Mekong River, where the group is given a free day before setting off again for the Unesco World Heritage Site of Wat Phu, then a jungle trek to visit the minority tribes of remote Attapeu.

Tours cost £1,500 for flights, three-star accommodation, food and activities (there is no single supplement).

Gecko Travel (023-9225 8859, www.geckotravel.com).

Non-stop activity

Pura Aventura, the adventure tour operator that offers hearty holidays to Spain and South America, has launched new itineraries in Costa Rica.

You can raft along the Pacuare River through the rainforest, kayak along the Pacific coast, and mountain bike on the Nicoya peninsula on a ten-day Paddles and Pedals tour, with good food and wine en route. The price of £1,199 includes accommodation, meals and activities but not flights.

A challenging 16-day Coast to Coast adventure traverses the Central American isthmus, crossing the Continental Divide and central mountain range on foot and two wheels, before rafting the remaining 150 or so miles to a beach on the Caribbean coast. The cost: £1,573 without flights.

Pura Aventura (0845 2255058, www.pura-aventura.com).

Glam dancing

Next year with Dance Holidays you can tango in Turin, ceroc in Sydney, line dance in Lloret de Mar, salsa in Santiago and balboa — a 1940s swing dance — in Barcelona.

Bollygroovin’ is the latest fad with the foot-tapping brigade — it’s a funky new dance that reflects the glitz and glamour of Bollywood, but you don’t need to go to Bombay. You can tan by day and party by night in Ibiza, where a week in June costs £499. And in Andalucia you can ski until dusk in the Sierra Nevada, and dance until dawn in romantic Granada on a Ski Bollywood week in early March (£525) — but watch out for bumps and bruises on the slopes.

Biggest bash for 2004 is the Tango Festival in its birthplace of Buenos Aires (£1,388 for eight nights). There are also new Irish (craic) weekends next spring and autumn (£349 for two nights). All prices include flights and dance tuition.

Dance Holidays (0870 2866000, www.danceholidays.com).

Polished cruises

Monasteries and moats, medieval towns and Hanseatic ports, Baroque palaces and amber museums are on the itinerary on a new Crossroads of Europe voyage with Peter Deilmann River Cruises along the Vistula, Poland’s main river.

The five-star MV Frederic Chopin will carry 79 passengers through the lakes and rivers of Pomerania between the capital, Warsaw, and the 1,000-year-old port of Gdansk.

Passengers can go ashore at Plock, where the first kings of Poland took up residence in the 11th century, and at Torun, birthplace of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus — his house is now a museum — as well as Frombork where he lived and wrote his life’s work, Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium.

A seven-night cruise costs £1,050-£2,209, including flights, transfers and full board afloat, but not excursions.

Peter Deilmann (020-7436 2931, www.peter-deilmann-river-cruises.co.uk).