5 Keys To Choosing The Best Location FOR Your Retreat

Location Location Location

This is a really fun part of running retreats: choosing the location. 

It’s literally asking yourself: where in the world do I most want to go to have the most amazing experience I can imagine?

So, since you’ve already gotten clear about why you are offering a retreat, what you want to get out of it, who your ideal clients are and how you can help them with this experience (read all about that in Blog #1-link), let’s talk beautiful settings. 

Greece or Hawaii?

Costa Rica or Bali?

Martha’s Vineyard or Tuscany?

It all depends on what your retreat is designed to do.

1) You need to choose a location that matches, supports and is aligned with the theme and purpose of your retreat.  

You should have a pretty good understanding of your ideal clients by now. So, ask yourself what places are on their bucket list. 

2) Do your research. Make sure it is a safe place to travel. Don’t rely on what you last heard maybe years ago about a place. Be up to date, because the world is an ever-changing place. Make sure that everyone will feel safe, regardless of how exotic a destination is. 

So learn about the potential environmental factors, health concerns, and political or social unrest that could affect your trip.

3) Also, consider how long it takes your guests to arrive. Most people won’t want to take off more than a week from work, so you have to choose a destination that is accessible. Unless you are traveling to a bucket list location, most people won’t want to use up all of their vacation time on your retreat. If they have young children, your clients-especially if they’re women- won’t want to be apart from them for too many days, which is another reason why 5-7 days is a good length. If the flights are long to get there, then 7-10 days is probably better. People need time to recover from the trip. If the flights are very long, to the other side of the world, then consider running 10-15 day retreats to allow for travel fatigue and jet lag. 

4) Also consider what’s the best time of year (and worst) to visit your location?

Watch out for extreme weather at certain times of the year which can seriously hurt the quality of your guests’ experience. People go on retreats to feel great. Rainy season can keep your group stuck inside a hotel for 5 days straight rather than snorkeling and hiking in the rainforest. 

5) Research the currency and exchange rate. You want to make money from your retreat, so be careful about going to a country where you won’t get a good exchange rate. The dollar is strong in Thailand and Bali, for example. But running a retreat in Italy would be more expensive. 

I know that it sounds like I’m asking you a lot of questions as if you were starting a business, but that’s because you ARE. 

Retreats are first and foremost a business and if you don’t know how to run them well, you won’t be in business for long. 

And that would be a huge shame because there is nothing more rewarding than providing unforgettable experiences for people, making friendships to last a lifetime and inspiring your guests to enjoy their lives to the fullest. 

It’s the BEST.