Castle vs Safari
Two ways to run a company offsite, side by side — group size, budget, where each concentrates, and the estates worth booking.
Plan a RetreatCastle
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
Safari
Big-game conservancies — game drives and once-in-a-career awe.
- Venues
- 20 exclusive-buyout estates
- Typical group
- 10–450 guests
- Indicative budget
- $1,200–$2,000 pp/night
- Concentrated in
- Africa & Middle East
- Best for
- leadership, celebration, team building
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.
Anantara The Royal Livingstone Victoria Falls Hotel
173 colonial-luxe rooms strung along the Zambezi, with private lawn access to the lip of Victoria Falls and conference space for up to ~450 delegates. This is the rare safari-adjacent property that hosts a full company at one address — plenary, gala under the spray, then sundowner cruises and game drives in Mosi-oa-Tunya as breakouts.
Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve
Four distinct lodges on one of the Big Five's most reliable traversing areas, owner-operated since 1979. Bush Lodge (the flagship, ~25 suites + conference facility) anchors the plenary while Earth Lodge, Selati Camp and Little Bush Camp absorb breakout groups — a coordinated full-reserve buyout that scales past the single-camp ceiling without losing the genuine wilderness feel.
MalaMala Game Reserve
The largest private big-five reserve bordering Kruger, MalaMala shares a 19-kilometre unfenced boundary with the national park and runs three camps — Main Camp, Sable Camp and Rattray's Camp. Taken together they host a full company on one of the highest-density wildlife tracts in Africa.