Alpine vs Vineyard
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
Vineyard
Estate wine country — long tables, tastings, and golden light.
- Venues
- 21 exclusive-buyout estates
- Typical group
- 10–400 guests
- Indicative budget
- $650–$1,300 pp/night
- Concentrated in
- Mediterranean Europe · Western United States · Caribbean & Latin America
- Best for
- celebration, strategy, leadership
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.
Marcus Whitman Hotel & Conference Center
A 1928 landmark tower in downtown Walla Walla, the base camp for one of America's fastest-rising wine regions. 133 rooms, a full conference center and four tasting rooms in the building itself, with more than 120 wineries within a short drive.
Novotel Barossa Valley Resort
A 140-room resort set among vines in the heart of the Barossa, one of Australia's great wine regions. Nine purpose-built event venues seat up to 250 theater or 180 banquet, with balconies over the vineyards and Shiraz cellars minutes in every direction.
Castello di Casole
A 4,200-acre restored 10th-century castle estate near Siena, surrounded by its own vineyards, olive groves, and cypress-lined roads made for driving.