How to Choose the Perfect Retreat Style for Your Team

Choosing the right retreat style is one of the most important decisions you will make when planning a company offsite. The experiences you choose shape how your team connects, thinks, collaborates, and returns to work afterward. Some teams need calm and space to reconnect. Others need movement and challenge. Some need inspiration and perspective. A few need all of the above.

At Get Lost, we design offsites that go beyond the usual team building formula. We help companies choose retreat styles that match what their people are facing in the moment. This guide breaks down the four most powerful retreat formats and how to decide which one fits your team.

Why Retreat Style Matters More Than Most Planners Realize

Retreat style is not just a theme. It is a strategy. The wrong experience can drain energy or miss the deeper challenges your team is trying to solve. The right experience creates clarity, connection, and direction. It supports the goals of your company and strengthens the relationships that shape your culture.

By matching the retreat format to your team’s needs, you create conditions that actually move the needle. Whether the goal is alignment, innovation, recovery, or stronger collaboration, the retreat style sets the tone for the entire experience.

Start With Your Team’s Goals and Current Energy

Before choosing an offsite style, get clear on what your people need right now. Here are questions we often walk clients through.

Is your team rebuilding connection

If the last year has been remote heavy or high pressure, your group may need shared experiences that rebuild trust and create space for real conversations.

Is your team addressing burnout

If energy is low and tension is rising, forcing high intensity activities will backfire. A restorative environment may be exactly what they need.

Is your leadership team trying to align on strategy

You may need a retreat that supports deep thinking, shared reflection, and focused discussions without distractions.

Are you rewarding performance

If the team has hit major milestones, choose a retreat that feels celebratory and gives people a sense of accomplishment.

Are you trying to spark creativity and fresh thinking

New environments and cultural exposure can unlock ideas that never surface inside a meeting room.

Once you understand where your team stands, the right retreat style becomes clear.

Sailing Retreats

A calm environment for connection, trust, and creative thinking

A sailing retreat works best for teams that need space to breathe and reconnect. Time on the water naturally slows the pace, replaces noise with calm, and makes room for conversations that never happen in an office setting. Sailing retreats are especially effective for leadership groups and remote teams that want to reset their communication patterns.

Shared tasks on board foster collaboration in a natural way. There is no forced icebreaker, only teamwork that develops through experience. The environment sparks creative thinking and gives your team a chance to return to work with a clearer mind.

Perfect for: Remote teams, executive offsites, teams navigating change, groups needing stronger trust.

Wellness Retreats

A restorative reset for burnt out teams and high pressure environments

Wellness retreats are ideal when your people feel stretched, tense, or disconnected from their own wellbeing. Time in nature, guided mindfulness, movement sessions, and slow mornings help reduce stress and bring everyone back to a grounded state.

These retreats work especially well for companies experiencing rapid growth, fast product cycles, or heavy workloads. A wellness focused offsite can prevent burnout, rebuild morale, and support emotional clarity. When your team returns, they are more focused and more engaged.

Perfect for: Teams under pressure, high growth startups, remote teams dealing with fatigue, companies prioritizing wellbeing.

Adventure Retreats

A high energy format that builds confidence, morale, and shared momentum

Adventure based retreats work best for teams that thrive with movement, challenge, and excitement. Activities like hiking, rafting, coastal trail runs, or group challenge courses build a sense of accomplishment. These retreats infuse energy back into the team and create stories people talk about long after the offsite ends.

Adventure retreats help teams push through mental barriers, communicate under pressure, and celebrate wins together. When the goal is confidence, motivation, or team bonding, this format delivers powerful results.

Perfect for: Sales teams, performance driven groups, teams needing a morale boost, companies that value resilience.

Cultural Immersion Retreats

A rich environment for perspective, empathy, and creative thinking

Cultural immersion retreats bring your team into the heart of local traditions, cuisine, history, and art. These experiences open new perspectives, spark creativity, and strengthen empathy across teams. When people explore a destination together through its culture, they build deeper connections and return home with a broader understanding of the world.

Workshops with local creators, cooking classes, historical tours, and community based experiences help teams expand the way they see challenges and opportunities. Cultural retreats are also strong choices for companies that value innovation and global thinking.

Perfect for: Creative teams, product teams, global companies, teams needing fresh inspiration.

Quick Guide: Match Your Goals to the Right Retreat Style

This simple framework helps companies choose their retreat direction.

• If your team needs calm connection

  Choose Sailing

• If your team is burnt out or fatigued

  Choose Wellness

• If your team needs confidence and energy

  Choose Adventure

• If your team needs creativity and new perspective

  Choose Cultural Immersion
  

This selection tool gives your retreat strategic purpose. Not every team needs the same experience and not every retreat creates the same outcome.

For more inspiration on retreat types, explore our blog on 10 Transformative Corporate Retreats.

Designing the Right Retreat with Get Lost

Selecting the retreat style is only the first step. The real impact comes from thoughtful design, planning, and execution. At Get Lost, we help companies understand what their team truly needs and create offsites that feel intentional, energizing, and unforgettable.

Whether your team is craving calm or excitement, connection or creativity, we craft experiences that support your people and your larger business goals.

If you are planning your next company offsite and want guidance on choosing the right direction, we would love to help. Reach out to our team and let us design a retreat that delivers meaningful outcomes for your organization.