I've planned trips at every category of European venue you can imagine. Here are twelve I'd actually book for a team retreat right now — organised by which team profile each one suits. Not the venues retreat platforms push hardest. The ones I'd recommend to a friend planning their own team's offsite.
I've planned trips at every category of European venue you can imagine — Aman properties at the top end, Surf Office at the purpose-built retreat end, and everything in between. Here are twelve I'd actually book for a team retreat right now, organised by what kind of team each one suits.
These aren't the venues that retreat platforms push hardest. These are the ones I'd recommend to a friend planning their own team's offsite — based on which team profile fits the property's strengths.
Each one has a different reason for being on the list. Read the "right for" line to figure out which works for yours.
An organic farm estate turned restored Tuscan villa. Sustainable-luxury done quietly — the kind of property where the walls are 800 years old and the menu uses only what's grown on the estate. The grounds are extensive enough that team members can disappear when they want quiet and reconvene easily at meals.
The reason I keep coming back to it: it has both formal meeting space and informal corners. Long stone tables for evening dinners, a saltwater pool for afternoon decompression, walking trails that surface natural one-on-ones.
Right for: mid-stage leadership offsites of 12–24 people who want depth, not flash. Bad fit for under-30 teams looking for nightlife.
A 1,500-hectare estate restored over 30 years by the Bolza family. The interiors are quietly extraordinary — every piece chosen, every detail considered. It's not the "wow" of a Four Seasons; it's the "everything here was deliberate."
The reason it's on the list: it has the rare combination of full-team capacity AND privacy. You can take over the entire estate for a team of 60 and the property feels designed for you alone. Few properties at this scale pull that off.
Right for: 30–60 person full-team retreats with budget for premium. Companies post-series-B who want the offsite to feel like a milestone, not a meeting.
The tech-founder favourite for a reason. Soho Farmhouse has industrial-design DNA wrapped around English-countryside comfort. The grounds are designed for casual encounter — the boathouse, the gym, the long communal table at the main house, the late-night fire pits.
The reason I include it: it's almost engineered for the kind of distributed-team retreat where you want "informal-CEO" energy. Not stuffy. Not corporate. But still polished.
Right for: 20–80 person SaaS / tech teams. Founder-led companies whose culture is "casual but ambitious." Bad fit for traditional-industry teams that want formal corporate atmosphere.
The best wellness-focused retreat property in Western Europe. Built into the terraced vineyards of the Douro Valley, with spa programming that's actually substantive (not just marketing). Wine country setting that doesn't lean clichéd.
The reason it works for retreats: you can run a serious operating-rhythm retreat in the mornings and pivot the afternoons into wellness — without it feeling like two unconnected trips. The property design supports both.
Right for: 20–50 person leadership retreats where wellness is part of the agenda, not an afterthought. Particularly good for teams recovering from a hard year or planning post-restructure.
For when the retreat is the message. Sveti Stefan is a 15th-century Adriatic island turned Aman property — there's essentially nothing else like it in Europe. Taking your team here for a retreat is itself a statement about how you think about the offsite.
The reason for the list: when budget allows for genuine luxury, this is the property that delivers the experience the budget claims to deliver. Most luxury venues over-promise. Aman properties don't.
Right for: founder/CEO offsites of 8–20 people. Partner events with VIP clients. Post-IPO celebrations. The kind of retreat where the venue is meant to be remembered as long as the conversations.
Hosted the G7 in 2015 and 2022, which tells you everything about security infrastructure and meeting-space quality. Genuinely beautiful Alpine setting. Sophisticated cultural programming (a literary salon and a concert hall on property — both real).
Why it makes the list: when you want a retreat property that can handle international travel logistics AND has serious cultural depth. The kind of place that makes board members feel taken seriously.
Right for: board-level retreats. International-team gatherings of 30–80 people. Teams whose work touches policy, geopolitics, or institutional finance.
The category-defining purpose-built retreat venue. Surf Office's model is end-to-end: rooms, meeting spaces, activities, food, transport — all engineered for distributed-team offsites. The Lisbon property sits in Cascais, 30 minutes from Lisbon airport.
Why it's on the list: for first-time retreat planners and budget-conscious teams, Surf Office removes 80% of the variables. You're trading luxury for predictability. For many teams, predictability is the better trade.
Right for: 15–40 person team retreats. First-time retreat planners. Teams whose budget can't stretch to premium but want a venue purpose-designed for the use case.
If Surf Office is the polished version of purpose-built retreat infrastructure, Selina is the cheerfully informal version. Co-living-meets-hotel format, designed for a younger team profile. The Ibiza property has the best balance of "real beach destination" and "actually equipped for work" in the network.
Why it's on the list: for early-stage teams whose culture leans informal and where the retreat budget needs to stretch. Selina is the option that lets you do a real overseas team retreat at a domestic-US-hotel price point.
Right for: early-stage teams under 40 people. Companies whose team profile skews under-35. Pre-series-A startups.
Outsite occupies a similar category to Selina but skews slightly older and more polished. Multiple Lisbon properties — one in Cascais near Surf Office and a central Lisbon location for teams wanting more urban energy.
Why it's on the list: for distributed teams of digital-nomad-adjacent professionals, Outsite is the brand that feels native to that worldview. Less corporate than a traditional hotel, more grown-up than Selina.
Right for: distributed teams of 8–25 people. Remote-first companies whose culture overlaps the digital-nomad community. Teams wanting urban Lisbon proximity without business-hotel atmosphere.
This list covers 9 of my top 12. The remaining 3 — and the venue-fit recommendation for YOUR specific team profile — start with a free 30-minute intake call.
Book an Intake Call →A Georgian country estate that was meticulously restored over the last decade and now functions as a hotel, working farm, gardens, and cyder operation. The design language is rigorous and consistent; nothing on property is accidental.
Why it's on the list: for teams whose creative work matters and who want a property where the surroundings actively inspire. Plus the Somerset countryside is genuinely beautiful and underrated.
Right for: design-led companies. Creative agencies. Founder offsites of 8–20 people where atmosphere matters more than amenities.
Capri done right. Most luxury Capri properties feel tired or touristy or both. JK Place feels like staying at a wealthy Italian friend's beautifully-restored home. Intimate scale, exceptional design, exceptional kitchen.
Why it makes the list: for executive offsites where you want a venue that's small enough to feel private but design-forward enough to inspire the conversations you're trying to have. Capri's seasonality means timing matters — May, June, late September are ideal.
Right for: 10–20 person leadership retreats. Founder reunions. Board-level strategy weeks. Not appropriate for full-team retreats unless your team is small.
A 6,500-acre estate on the southwest coast of Corsica, with restored shepherds' houses scattered across the land as private villas. Several restaurants. Private beaches. Almost no other people for kilometres.
Why it's on the list: when "private" is part of the retreat's value proposition. Distributed teams sometimes need to be all-in for several days without the distraction of a normal hotel environment. Murtoli delivers that more completely than any other property in this list.
Right for: 12–35 person retreats where genuine privacy matters. Boards working on sensitive strategy. Leadership teams processing a difficult year. Investors planning portfolio strategy.
Three rules of thumb before you start emailing properties:
I have direct access to almost every property on this list — including partner-programme perks not bookable direct. Book a free 30-minute intake call and I'll help you pick the right one for your team's offsite.
See How I Plan Retreats → Email LisaSome links in this post may earn Trip Happens a small referral commission — at no extra cost to you and never affecting what gets recommended. Full disclosure here.