Signature Luxury Travel & Style
SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
Escape the boardroom with these inspired South American locations for your next meeting, conference or event.
Thanks to skyrocketing improvements to infrastructure, security and quality of service over the past few years, Latin America has become a major player in the world’s MICE space. The region is made all the more appealing by the vast amount of attractions for incentives groups, from world-class wellness retreats to luxury eco-lodges that are all perfectly positioned for successful team-building and motivation sessions.
Here are some of the most innovative places – and ways – to hold your next event in this colourful part of the world.
EOLO Argentina There’s nothing like the great outdoors to inspire reflection and do away with distraction. Eolo not only delivers untouched Patagonian wilderness – this Relais & Châteaux ranch is set in 4,000 hectares of southern Argentina’s most spectacular countryside – but it also offers space for some of the most memorable experiences your team will ever have together.
Located halfway between El Calafate and the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Los Glaciares National Park, the ranch is remarkably accessible, with the nearest airport a 30-minute drive away. But when you arrive, you’ll feel like you’ve reached the end of the Earth, so dramatic are the landscapes.
Personal development activities on offer revolve around the natural landscape, and include horse rides to South America’s most famous glacier, Perito Moreno, or invigorating treks and birdwatching excursions around the country’s largest lake, Lago Argentino.
The estancia design of Eolo’s 17 rooms flows into public spaces, including a lounge, library and restaurant, where every table is positioned to take in views of the Andes. Still, the best place to be at the end of each day is the indoor pool with its spectacular backdrop of glaciers; as far as “pinch me” moments go, this is hard to beat. eolopatagonia.com
LARES TREK Peru
There are countless studies highlighting the positive correlation between exercise and mental wellbeing; running, walking and being outdoors not only make people feel good, but can also make them more open to ideas, think with clarity and shed inhibitions.
These feelings are only intensified when you’re in one of the world’s most spiritual and sacred places, hiking through remote valleys and along snow-tipped mountain ridges on your way to the legendary former Incan city of Machu Picchu.
Trekking to this Peruvian World Heritage Site is a pilgrimage many undertake, but most do it in rather rustic conditions. With Mountain Lodges of Peru, your team can enjoy the same spectacular scenery as others walking the Inca Trail, but you’ll bed down in oh-so-comfy huts, each built in consultation with local communities.
On five- and seven-day high-altitude hikes through the Sacred Valley from the village of Lares, you’ll take in hidden villages, stroll around archaeological sites and break personal goals by reaching peaks you didn’t think were attainable.
You’ll bond with colleagues over the jaw-dropping scenery and enjoy chef-prepared meals and wine around a crackling campfire when you arrive at your comfortable accommodation at the end of the day. This trek will test your mind and body, but you’ll come out the other side feeling relaxed, refreshed and with a sense of accomplishment. mountainlodgesofperu.com
CELEBRITY FLORA CRUISE Galápagos Islands, Ecuador
If there’s a single place to be humbled by nature, the Galápagos Islands is it. While in the past, the archipelago could only be explored on expedition-style cruise ships, a new breed of luxury yachts sailing in Ecuadorian waters means creature comforts no longer come second to up-close wildlife encounters.
Enter Celebrity Flora, a 100-person ship making her maiden voyage in May 2019. The vessel’s 50 high-tech guest suites – all with retractable floor-to-ceiling windows – and other luxury facilities are available by the cabin or for exclusiveuse private charters.
Flora’s launch means that any adventure-seeking team can witness endangered species by day, and sip bubbly in an open-air Jacuzzi by night. Teams can look forward to oneoff experiences such as Galápagos Glamping, an campfire-themed evening under the stars. celebritycruises.com