Countryside vs Palace
Two kinds of place, side by side — who each one suits, what each one costs, and where they concentrate. The setting decides the tone of the whole week, so it is worth deciding on purpose.
Design a retreatCountryside
Pastoral estates — manor houses, gardens, and slow luxury.
- Venues
- 28 private estates
- Typical group
- 15–500 guests
- Indicative budget
- $700–$1,300 pp/night
- Concentrated in
- British Isles · Southeastern United States · Mediterranean Europe
- Best for
- leadership, strategy, team building
Palace
Heritage palace hotels — ceremony, service, and old-world scale.
- Venues
- 14 private estates
- Typical group
- 20–600 guests
- Indicative budget
- $425–$1,025 pp/night
- Concentrated in
- South & East Asia · Mediterranean Europe · Africa & Middle East
- Best for
- celebration, leadership, strategy
Gleneagles
A storied Scottish estate on 850 acres of glen — a grand hotel with its own railway stop, falconry school, shooting school, and three championship golf courses.
Borgo Egnazia
A resort built as a Puglian village of whitewashed courtyards, 182 rooms across La Corte, the Borgo and standalone houses, with 11 meeting rooms handling groups to 500. Site of the 2024 G7 summit, with a championship golf course, spa and Puglian countryside all around.
Pinehurst Resort
The cradle of American golf — ten courses in the Carolina pines, a grand village resort, and the home of multiple U.S. Opens.
Taj Falaknuma Palace
The former Nizam of Hyderabad's palace on a hill above the city, with a 101-seat state dining hall, a Durbar Hall and gardens that host events from 60 to 1,800. Guests arrive by horse-drawn carriage into one of India's grandest heritage settings.
Umaid Bhawan Palace (Taj)
One of the world's largest private residences, still partly home to the Jodhpur royal family, with a 64-key Taj wing set in 26 acres of formal gardens above the blue city. The plenary moves between the Majestic Banquet Hall (400) and the floodlit Palace Grounds (up to 1,200), and a full evening can be staged as a royal durbar with the Mehrangarh Fort lit on the skyline. Cultural immersion here is genuine, not themed.
Jai Mahal Palace
A restored early-20th-century palace on 18 acres of Mughal gardens in the heart of Jaipur, with about 100 rooms, seven meeting venues and lawns that stage evening functions for up to 2,000. Room for a full company kickoff with a genuine Rajasthani celebration built in.