Alpine vs Castle
Two ways to run a company offsite, side by side — group size, budget, where each concentrates, and the estates worth booking.
Plan a RetreatAlpine
High-country lodges — summits, cold air, and big vistas.
- Venues
- 25 exclusive-buyout estates
- Typical group
- 2–500 guests
- Indicative budget
- $550–$1,100 pp/night
- Concentrated in
- Alpine Europe & Nordic · Mediterranean Europe · Western United States
- Best for
- leadership, team building, celebration
Castle
Heritage grandeur — turrets, great halls, and a sense of occasion.
- Venues
- 21 exclusive-buyout estates
- Typical group
- 2–450 guests
- Indicative budget
- $500–$950 pp/night
- Concentrated in
- British Isles · Mediterranean Europe · Northeastern United States
- Best for
- leadership, celebration, strategy
Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne
A clifftop resort village 500 m above Lake Lucerne, Bürgenstock spans three hotels (~360 rooms) and a 2,200 m² conference centre seating up to 600 — among the largest premium large-group capacities in the Alps. Arrival by private lake boat and funicular is itself the opening ceremony. It absorbs a full 500-person company while still feeling like a private mountain.
Sun Valley Lodge
America's original destination mountain resort, opened 1936 and renovated in 2015, with 108 rooms and suites, the Sun Valley Inn, rental cottages, and a large convention center handling groups from 10 to 1,000. A summer-forward valley of hiking, cycling, and golf plus a 15-treatment-room spa anchors the retreat, with winter skiing on Bald Mountain.
Millbrook Resort
A 650-acre golf and lifestyle resort in the Wakatipu Basin under the Remarkables, with 160 rooms across studios, suites and resort homes — capacity for 350-plus guests and all four onsite restaurants privately bookable. It's the rare Queenstown property that can take a large group end-to-end while putting bungee, jet-boating, heli-wine and the Otago wine country all within reach. The Southern Alps do the rest.
Dromoland Castle
A 16th-century baronial castle on a 450-acre estate with a walled garden, championship golf and a purpose-built Brian Ború Hall that swallows a 450-person conference under 30-foot ceilings. The mix of state rooms for board-level sessions and a full estate for team activity is why companies take it whole.
OHEKA CASTLE Hotel & Estate
Adare Manor
A neo-Gothic manor on an 840-acre estate whose golf course hosts the 2027 Ryder Cup, paired with a 499-square-metre Grand Ballroom seating 350. It runs board sessions in the oak-panelled library and awards nights in the ballroom without the group ever leaving the grounds.