(MONEY Magazine) – Tour packages may be your low-priced ticket to an ever more sophisticated and shrinking world. The old image of regiments of retirees marching through a dozen European capitals in as many days has given way to multiple-option vacations. Says Art Kienle at American Express: ''A new consumer is emerging who wants to get off the beaten track and design his own customized tour.'' No longer must you travel in a pack, stay glued to a guide or ever set foot in a museum, if you're not so inclined. Today you can tailor a tour to exact specs, whether you want to explore ancient ruins, ski the Alps, laze among palm trees or show the family Paree. What remains unchanged, thankfully, are packages' bottom lines. Tours can save you as much as 50% off the price of booking a trip yourself (see the table on comparing costs on page 130). How do you assemble the right package for you? To get the answer, MONEY interviewed tour operators, travel agents and industry analysts. Here's their advice -- and six packages ranging from Cancun to Kusadasi and from Old Faithful to Mickey Mouse: Which tour is best for me? That depends on your travel personality. Do you enjoy trips built around sightseeing? Sailing? Fine dining? Loafing? Once you figure that out, select from these: -- Escorted tours involve groups of 15 to 40 people accompanied by a tour director or guide and perhaps other staff. The trips are arranged in advance -- from hotel stays to theater tickets. And the price usually covers air fare, transfers, departure taxes, meals and excursions. The better the trip, the higher the total price. Before the mid-1980s, 70% of escorted-tour travelers were over age 55, but that's changing. ''We're finding that families and couples in their forties are joining group tours,'' says Jerry Foster at St. Louis' Travellers International. To widen the market, therefore, escorted tours are becoming more flexible. In addition, says Betsy Welch at Thomas Cook Travel's Gold Division: ''People now want to go to new or unusual places, such as Antarctica or the Galapagos, which require escorted tours.'' -- At the other end of the spectrum are independent tours. These offer package prices with design-it-yourself itineraries -- to provide savings of 25% to 35% off the cost of booking it yourself. ''Five years ago,'' says American Express' Kienle, ''we did 80% escorted tours and 20% independent. Now it's shifted to fifty-fifty.'' Usually, with independent tours, you select from a menu of air-fare, hotel and rental-car choices. British Airways Holidays (800-243-6822), the largest tour wholesaler to Europe, for example, offers a choice of more than 62 hotels at discounts of as much as 50% and rental cars for as little as $15 a day. -- Fixed packages are ideal for resort areas, such as the Caribbean or Disney World. These are prepaid bargains; you get specific dates, air fare, hotels and a car. What savings can I expect on a tour? From 10% to 50% off the price of booking the identical trip yourself, depending on how far in advance you commit and whether you travel with a group. Tour companies, operating on profit margins of only 1% to 3%, buy blocks of hotel rooms and airline seats at discounts of as much as 50%. They then pass along those savings. Operators that specialize in a country, region or type of trip are likely to offer better deals because of deeper volume discounts. Jet Vacations (800-538-0999), for instance, which specializes in independent packages to Europe, offers from 30% to 40% off on 41 hotels in Paris. With more families booking, many operators have added incentives to help parents bring children along. ''Four years ago,'' says Nigel Osborne at New York City's Trafalgar Tours (800-854-0103), ''we began offering 10% to 25% off for kids.'' How do I find the best deal? By enlisting a travel agent, unaffiliated with any major tour company, who is familiar with selling packages. ''Think of travel agents as investment advisers,'' suggests Scott Supernaw at Tauck Tours, the country's biggest motorcoach operator. Can the price change between booking and departure? Yes, but only in rare cases. Last summer, for example, when the dollar plunged 16% in Europe in just a few months, some firms boosted prices 7% to 10%. A few major operators, such as American Express Vacations (booked through travel agents) and Tauck Tours (800-468-2825), will guarantee prices. To protect yourself, ask the tour company to explain its pricing policies. How far in advance should I book? If you're headed for a hot destination -- say Yellowstone National Park in July -- reserve space three to six months in advance. For less popular places, be prepared for alternatives: Group tours usually reserve the right to cancel up to six weeks before departure. For independent tours, you usually need to book only a month or two ahead. How can I judge a tour's value? Generally, the more you pay, the more you get. The key is to lock in what you want. For instance, deluxe European tours might include extras that don't interest you, such as gambling-club fees. On budget tours, check whether hotels are far from the center of town. Ask specific questions: What does ''dinner nightly'' mean? What does a ''first- class hotel'' in Budapest offer? ''There are no international standards for hotels,'' says Bob Whitley at the United States Tour Operators Association (USTOA). ''Disappointment over accommodations is the most frequent complaint.'' How can I be sure a tour company is reliable? Look for a firm that's a member of a tour-protection plan from USTOA, the National Tour Association or the American Society of Travel Agents. To make sure travelers don't lose money if the tour operator folds, NTA covers its 560 members for as much as $100,000 for each firm; the 40 USTOA operators are guaranteed by $5 million each; and the 28 ASTA members are covered by $250,000 each. NTA and USTOA members also carry $1 million each in professional liability insurance.

HIGH-VALUE PACKAGES Here are six tours to top destinations. All prices are per person, double occupancy (except for the Disney family trip), and some require mid-week departures. Air fare, when included, is round trip from New York City. Going west. For easy riding in the National Parks, try a Tauck Tours motorcoach for nine days from Utah to South Dakota, staying at Yellowstone's Old Faithful Inn and the Grand Tetons' Jackson Lodge; $1,250 (no air fare), including meals, May through September. Going east. Travellers International's (800-882-8486) 11-day Greek Odyssey offers six days in Athens, Delphi and Olympia, then a cruise to Mykonos, Rhodes and Turkey's Kusadasi; $2,198 to $2,538, April 17 to Oct. 16, with air fare, hotels and most meals. Extend your Athens stay for $95 a day. Going south. Book four nights at the 450-room Marriott Casa Magna beachfront hotel in Cancun with Travel Impression (800-284-0044), January through March (except Feb. 11 to 21); $705, including air fare. Going for the green. American Express' Countryside Explorer (800-241-1700) packages a week on your own in Ireland -- Dublin, Killarney and Limerick -- from April through June and Sept. 16 through Oct. 31; $985 covers inns, breakfasts and car, but no air fare. Going for Mickey. A family of four stays for a week at the 288-room Disney Inn, with two pools, tennis courts and two golf courses, on Delta's Dream Vacation (800-221-6666); $3,559 to $3,679, through next April. It includes a rental car, admission to all Disney parks, a breakfast with Disney characters and air fare. Going for snow. Head for Breckenridge, Colo. on Continental Grand Destinations (800-634-5555); $1,053 to $1,185, January to March, with air fare, seven nights at the 400-room Beaver Run Resort (30 yards from the slopes), a car and a six-day ski pass to four mountains.

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: NO CREDIT CAPTION: TOUR DE FORCE SAVINGS Jeanne Cook, owner of a Ridgefield, Conn. travel agency, compared three typical seven-day trips from New York City to London: an all-inclusive group tour run by Travellers International, a British Airways prepaid package for two, and an excursion booked individually by the traveler alone -- all with stays at the 471-room St. James's Court Hotel. Bottom line: You save 46% on a group tour and 28% on a package for two over the cost of booking the trip on your own. Prices are per person, double occupancy, and based on midweek March '93 departures.