Insights
Company offsites are evolving. What was once a day of meetings followed by dinner or drinks at the local pub is becoming an opportunity to bring teams together properly - particularly as more businesses operate across different offices, countries and time zones or are sometimes fully remote.
Going international for your company offsite or retreat doesn’t necessarily mean a huge long-haul trip or an equally huge budget. With the right destination, an international team offsite can combine productive working sessions with great team experiences and the chance to spend meaningful time together somewhere completely different.
In my role at VenueScanner I’ve worked on briefs ranging from smaller leadership retreats to larger company-wide offsites, and I’m seeing more clients open to looking beyond the UK.
Why Take Your Company Offsite Abroad
1. Get your team away from the everyday:
You can book a meeting room around the corner from the office, but it’s much harder to create that feeling of stepping away from work. People can still disappear back to the office, jump onto calls or head home as soon as the last session finishes. Taking everyone somewhere new creates a clear separation from the normal working environment. You’ve got a much better opportunity to get everyone’s full attention and focus.
2. Bring remote and international teams together
Choosing a destination everyone travels to can create a more level playing field. Instead of half the team commuting to their usual office while everyone else has travelled, the whole group gets to experience somewhere new together. It also gives colleagues who might spend most of the year speaking through a screen the opportunity to actually get to know each other.
3. Make your time together count
If you're bringing a remote or international team together, particularly when they may only meet in person a few times a year, you want to make that time worthwhile. A two or three-night offsite gives you time to balance strategy sessions, presentations and workshops with the moments that actually help people build relationships. You might have a welcome dinner on night one, meetings the following morning, an activity in the afternoon and a more relaxed evening together. Instead of trying to cram everything into one day, you've got time to create a proper experience.
4. Going abroad doesn’t always mean blowing the budget
There's often an assumption that taking a company overseas will automatically cost significantly more than staying in the UK - that isn't always the case. Once you've factored in UK venue hire, bedrooms, catering, private dinners, AV and activities, it's worth comparing the total cost with destinations further afield. Depending on where and when you travel, your budget may go further than you expect. The important thing is looking at the overall event cost before making any decisions.
5. Let the destination become part of the event
One of the biggest advantages of going abroad is that so much of the experience comes naturally from the destination itself. A vineyard dinner in Tuscany, a tapas tour through Seville or an afternoon exploring the Norwegian fjords already feels like an experience before you've even started thinking about traditional team-building activities. Make sure to allow some down time too so that employees can explore the locations at their leisure.
Best International Offsite Destinations for Your Team
So, where should you actually go? The right destination will depend on your team dynamic, budget and what you want to get out of the offsite. Are you looking for somewhere easy to reach for a quick two-night trip, a countryside escape where everyone can properly switch off, or a destination that delivers a real wow factor?
I’ve pulled together six of my favourite destinations for an international company offsite, each offering something a little different - from easy European escapes and sunshine-filled cities to countryside retreats and more adventurous options further afield.
🇵🇹 Lisbon: Best All-Rounder Offsite Destination
Easy to reach from the UK and many European cities, Lisbon has a great selection of hotels and event spaces, and gives the perfect combination of city, sunshine, great food and nightlife.
Lisbon also makes it easy to create a varied itinerary without spending hours travelling between activities. Hold meetings at your hotel in the morning, head out for a food tour or sailing in the afternoon and finish with rooftop drinks overlooking the city. If you’re staying for a few days, Sintra and Cascais give you plenty of options to get outside the city and explore a new area.
Best time of year to go: April - June or September - October. You'll generally get warmer weather while avoiding the busiest and hottest part of the summer.
Best for: companies looking for a balance between productive meeting time and a fun team experience.
Hotel recommendations: EPIC SANA Lisboa | Tivoli Avenida Liberdade | Mama Shelter Lisbon
🇪🇸Seville: Best for Culture and Local Experiences
Seville is a beautiful, walkable city with lots of character - making it particularly good for groups that want to experience the destination rather than spend the entire trip inside a hotel.
There are so many experiences you can build into your itinerary such as tapas tours, flamenco shows, rooftop drinks, exploring historic sites such as Royal Alcázar, cooking experiences and brilliant private dining options.
Best time of year to go: March - May or September - November. I'd avoid the height of summer for a corporate offsite as temperatures can make daytime activities less appealing.
Best for: teams that want food, culture and shared experiences to play a big part in their offsite.
Hotel recommendations: Barceló Sevilla Renacimiento | Melia Sevilla | Hotel Alfonso XIII
🇮🇹Tuscany: Best Countryside Offsite Escape
Not every offsite needs to take place in a city. For teams that genuinely want to step away from the day-to-day, Tuscany would be one of my first choices. Choosing a countryside hotel, resort or private estate means you can keep everyone together and create a much more immersive experience.
Think morning strategy sessions followed by an Italian Job - style driving experience exploring the surrounding villages or why not try a vineyard tour or olive oil tasting in the afternoon, then bringing everyone back together for a long-table dinner in the evening with the Tuscan valleys as a backdrop and incredible Italian cuisine.
Best time of year to go: April - June or September - October. Spring is great for outdoor activities, while September and October give you the added benefit of harvest season. I'd generally avoid July and August for a work-focused trip due to the heat, crowds and peak-season pricing.
Best for: leadership retreats and smaller team offsites, as many of the hotels and estates are naturally better suites to more intimate groups.
Hotel recommendations: Renaissance Toscane Il Ciocco | Castelfalfi Resort | Monteverdi
🇫🇷Lille: Easiest European Offsite by Train
Being able to jump on the Eurostar and arrive in the centre of another European city makes the logistics incredibly easy - this is why Lille works so well for company offsites. You avoid airport queues and lengthy transfers while still giving everyone that feeling of getting away.
The city itself is compact and easy to navigate as a group, with plenty of restaurants, bars and cultural experiences to build around your meetings.
Best time of year to go: April - June or September - October for generally milder weather. Lille also works particularly well year-round if most of your programme is indoors, making it a good option when sunshine isn't the main reason for choosing the destination.
Best for: UK-based teams looking for an easy one or two-night international offsite with minimal travel hassle.
Hotel recommendations: Resort Barrière Lille | Hôtel l'Arbre Voyageur | Hôtel Hermitage Gantois
🇳🇴 Norway: Best for Nature and a Digital Detox
If the aim is to properly get everyone away from their screens and everyday surroundings, Norway is hard to beat!
For accessibility, Oslo works well. It’s compact, has a strong selection of hotels and meeting venues and gives you easy access to both the waterfront and surrounding nature.
For something more experience-led, look towards Bergen and the fjords. This is where an offsite can start to feel like a genuine retreat. Alternatively, the Lofoten Islands would be an incredible choice for an incentive trip or leadership retreat. Dramatic mountains, fishing villages and Arctic coastline make it feel completely removed from the everyday, with plenty of opportunities to build outdoor experiences into the agenda - from hiking and kayaking to RIB trips and depending on the season, seeing the Northern Lights.
Best time of year to go: This really depends on the experience you want. May-September is ideal if you want long days and lots of outdoor activities. For a completely different winter offsite, head north between late autumn and early spring and build the trip around snow-based activities and the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights or Midnight Sun.
Best for: leadership retreats, wellness-focused offsites and teams that want nature and outdoor experiences to be a major part of the trip.
Hotel recommendations: Thon Hotel Lofoten | Sommerro Oslo | Hotel Norge by Scandic in Bergen
🇲🇦Marrakech: Best Short-Haul Wildcard Destination
If you want your offsite to feel completely different from your day to day environment but without committing to a long-haul flight, Marrakech is a top choice.
Within a relatively short flight from the UK, you can take the team somewhere that feels a world away.
There are some incredible resorts and hotels that lend themselves perfectly to corporate groups, but it's everything you can build around the meetings that makes Marrakech really exciting.
You could host dinner in a traditional riad, spend an afternoon exploring the Medina and its maze of souks, arrange a Moroccan cooking experience or take the team out towards the Atlas Mountains or Agafay Desert. For something particularly memorable, an early-morning hot air balloon ride over the landscape outside Marrakech is an incredible group experience.
It’s a destination where the location itself gives you so much to work with, whether you want culture, food, adventure or simply some downtime in the sunshine.
Best time of year to go: March-May or September-November. You'll generally get warm weather that's much more comfortable for outdoor activities than the height of summer.
Best for: companies looking for a high-impact annual offsite, incentive-style trip or something that feels completely different from the usual European city break without the long-haul flight.
Hotel recommendations: Mandarin Oriental Marrakech | La Mamounia | Four Seasons Resort Marrakech
How to Choose the Right International Offsite Destination
Choosing the destinations is the exciting part, but there’s a lot more to consider than great weather and a beautiful hotel. When I’m sourcing an international offsite for a client, I’m always thinking about the practicalities too. Here are some of the key things I look at before recommending a destination or venue to a client.
- ✈️ Travel connections: Check where all your team are travelling from before deciding on a location. Look at direct flight and rail connections for the majority of the attendees.
- ⏱️ Transfer times: How far away is your hotel from the airport or station? For a two or three night offsite those hours are valuable. Your team doesn't want to be spending two hours on a coach when they get to the other end, also eating into your budget hiring coaches for the group.
- 🛏️ Bedroom capacity: If you’re travelling as a large group, can everyone actually stay in the same hotel? Splitting a team across several hotels can change the whole feel of an offsite and add another layer of logistics. Some locations don’t have the capacity for larger corporate events, something to keep in mind when deciding where to go.
- 💻 Meeting facilities: Make sure there's enough space for your main meeting, breakouts, private dinners and any other elements of the trip, and check what's included from an AV perspective. I also look for meeting rooms with plenty of natural daylight - there’s no point going abroad if you’re going to spend the whole day sitting in a basement.
- 🍽️ Food and drink: You're taking people somewhere new, so ideally you don't want them eating every meal in the same hotel restaurant. I always look at what else is nearby and how you can use food and drink to showcase the destination. Or look at hotels with multiple options for evening meals such as a barbeque in the grounds one night, something more formal on another night or going offsite.
- 🎯 Activities: What experiences and team building options are in the destination? The best options are often activities that are specific to the destination rather than something you could recreate anywhere.
- ☀️Seasonality: Don’t just look at the average temperature. Look at rainfall, daylight hours, local holidays, major events and peak tourism periods as these can all have an impact on both the experience and the costs.
- 💰The total budget: Don’t just look at the hotel rate. Flights or rail, airport transfers, accommodation, meeting space, F&B, AV, activities and local suppliers all contribute to the overall cost. Sometimes the destination that initially looks more expensive can actually offer much better overall value.
Is an International Offsite Right for Your Team?
Not every company needs to take its team abroad. But if your employees are remote, spread across multiple offices or only get together a handful of times each year, there's a strong argument for making one of those occasions count.
And an international offsite doesn't have to mean flying everyone halfway around the world. It could be jumping on the Eurostar to Lille, spending two nights eating your way around Seville, taking over a countryside property in Tuscany, getting out into the Norwegian fjords or swapping the meeting room view for the Atlas Mountains.
For me, the best company offsites strike a balance between getting things done and giving people an experience they wouldn't normally have together.
How VenueScanner Can Help Plan Your International Offsite
At VenueScanner, we offer a free venue-finding service, helping businesses find the right hotels and venues for corporate events across the UK and internationally. Our VenueScanner for Business team can help with:
- Destination recommendations: not sure where to go? We can suggest destinations that work for your team, budget and travel requirements
- Venue and hotel sourcing: we'll find suitable properties with the right combination of bedrooms, meeting rooms, breakout spaces and facilities.
- Availability and pricing: we'll contact venues on your behalf, check availability and collate costs so you can easily compare your options.
- Negotiating the details – from room rates and meeting packages to minimum spends and added extras, we'll help make sure you're getting the best possible option for your budget.
- Local suppliers and DMCs: we work with trusted suppliers and Destination Management Companies (DMCs) who can support with everything on the ground, including airport transfers, coaches, restaurants and private dining, team-building activities, local experiences, entertainment and excursions. This is particularly valuable when you're planning in a destination you don't know or if there is a language barrier.
- AV and production: whether you need a simple meeting setup or a larger conference production, we can connect you with suppliers who can support with AV, staging, branding and production.
- Site visits: once you've narrowed down the shortlist, we can help arrange site visits so you can see the spaces and experience the destination before making a final decision.
Whether you already know you want three nights in Lisbon or you've simply been told "we want to take the team somewhere in Europe", we can take the brief from there.
Planning an international company offsite? Send us your brief and we’ll help you find the right destination, venue and local partners to bring it together.
