How to Choose the Perfect Location for Your Team Building Event

Why location shapes the outcome of the whole event

When organising a team building event, most of the energy goes into choosing the activity: whether it's an escape room, a cooking workshop or a gymkhana. But location is the decision that holds up, or brings down, everything else. A poorly chosen venue can turn the best activity in the world into an uncomfortable experience, with endless travel times, spaces that are too small, or a setting that doesn't invite people to switch off. Before locking in the what, it's worth being very clear on the where.

Location isn't just a backdrop: it shapes the group's mood from the moment they receive the invitation. A well-chosen venue builds anticipation; a forgettable one breeds indifference. That's why it's worth spending time on this before booking anything else, even before finalising the format of the activity itself.

Accessibility: the first filter, before you fall in love with a venue

It's easy to be seduced by beautiful photos of a country estate or a unique space and forget the most practical detail: how will people actually get there? If the team works in the city centre and the event is an hour and a half away by car, you need to factor in that dead time, the people without their own vehicle, and the possible need to arrange shared transport.

Questions worth answering before settling on a venue:

• Is there reasonable public transport, or is a car essential?
• Is there enough parking if part of the team will drive themselves?
• How much net travel time does the day add up to, there and back?
• Will buses need to be organised, and if so, who covers that cost?

None of these questions has a universally correct answer: it depends on the budget, the size of the group, and whether the goal is a quick few-hour session or a full-day experience. What matters is deciding consciously, not by default.

Indoor or outdoor: what depends on the activity and what depends on the calendar

Activities that call for the outdoors

Some activities are far better outdoors: a gymkhana, a mini Olympics or a challenge like a survival course need room to move, run and make noise without disturbing anyone. In these cases, choosing an outdoor venue isn't an aesthetic whim, it's almost a technical requirement of the activity itself.

Activities that work better indoors

At the other end are activities that require concentration, relative quiet, or a technical setup for sound, projection or furniture: a creative workshop, a themed dinner or a training session. For these, an enclosed space with good climate control is usually more reliable than betting on good weather.

The calendar matters too: in the height of summer, an outdoor space with no shade can ruin the experience through sheer heat; in winter, without a covered fallback area, rain can undo months of planning. The safest option, almost always, is a venue that combines both: an outdoor area for the bulk of the activity and an indoor room as a backup plan.

Capacity and layout: giving the activity room to breathe

A common mistake is booking a space thinking only about whether people will fit, without considering that many activities need room to move, split into teams or lay out materials. A room that's comfortable for a fifteen-person lunch can suddenly feel very small once you set up a team activity that needs its own space for each group.

Always ask for the venue's real activity capacity, not just its general capacity, and picture how the subgroups will be laid out, where materials or tables will go, and whether there are walkways that could create bottlenecks. This is especially critical for large groups: organising a mini Olympics for twenty people is nothing like organising one for two hundred.

Comparing several options before deciding: what to ask each venue

The first venue you visit is rarely the right one, and it's worth resisting the temptation to book too soon just because a place made a good first impression. The sensible approach is to visit, or at least request detailed information from, two or three different options before deciding, using the same list of questions for each so you can compare like for like.

Among those questions, always be sure to include:

• What happens if the final headcount changes a few days before the event?
• Does the price include setup and teardown, or is that negotiated separately?
• Is there any form of exclusivity, or is the venue shared with other events the same day?
• What backup plan does the venue itself offer in case of rain or unexpected weather?

Keeping the answers from several venues in writing, even just in an email or a quick note, saves you from relying on memory when comparing and helps you spot details that, seen in isolation, might otherwise slip through unnoticed.

Price isn't everything: what to look at besides cost per person

It's common to compare venues purely on cost per person, but that figure alone can be misleading. A cheaper venue that requires booking extra transport, or that doesn't include basic furniture, can end up costing more than a seemingly pricier one that already includes everything you need. Before comparing prices, get clear on exactly what each quote includes: setup, cleaning, public liability insurance, on-site staff or climate control.

It's also worth weighing the cost in time, not just money: a cheap but poorly connected venue can mean hours of lost work time in travel that, added up across the whole team, carries a real cost for the company even if it never shows up on an invoice.

Close to the office or a getaway? Two different philosophies

There's no single right answer here, just two approaches that serve different goals.

A location near the office

This simplifies logistics, cuts travel costs and allows for shorter activities, even half-day ones, without taking a full day away from the team. It's the logical choice when the goal is a one-off, lightweight event that can be repeated fairly often without a major time investment.

A genuine getaway

Leaving the usual surroundings, the city, the routine, even the region, has a different psychological effect: it signals that the day is special, that effort has gone into it, that you're truly stepping out of office mode. It's the better fit for annual conventions, year-end celebrations or moments where you're after a stronger emotional impact, even if it means a bigger budget and more coordination.

Neither option replaces the other: many companies combine short, nearby get-togethers throughout the year with a bigger annual getaway, built for example around a family day or a major seasonal convention.

Accessibility for people with reduced mobility: not an extra, part of the design

Every venue under consideration should be checked against this question: could someone with reduced mobility or another accessibility need take part fully? It's not just about whether there's a ramp at the entrance, but whether the toilets are accessible, whether uneven ground allows people to move around unaided, or whether the activity itself has ways to take part for those who can't run or crouch.

This is usually only reviewed once there's a specific person on the team with a known need, but the sensible approach is to build it in as a baseline criterion for any venue search, just like capacity or parking. A good team building provider should be able to adapt both the space and the activity so that no one is left out for reasons that have nothing to do with their willingness to take part.

Other details that make a difference and are almost never asked about

Beyond the big criteria, there are a number of small details that, added together, shape the experience a great deal:

• Availability of power outlets and internet access if the activity requires it.
• Shaded or sheltered areas within outdoor spaces.
• Enough toilets for the size of the group, without endless queues.
• Somewhere secure to leave coats, bags or personal belongings.
• Venue usage hours: whether there's time to set up beforehand and pack away afterwards without rushing.
• Ambient noise levels, especially if there's a training session or a speech involved.

None of these points shows up in a venue's glossy website photos, but all of them show up, sooner or later, on the day of the event.

How to decide without getting lost: a simple method

With so many variables at play, it helps to boil the decision down to three linked questions. First, what kind of activity do you want to run, and what does that activity need in terms of space, indoor or outdoor? Second, how much time and budget is available for travel, and does that point towards somewhere nearby or towards a getaway? Third, does the candidate venue guarantee that everyone on the team, without exception, can take part comfortably?

If all three answers line up, the venue is very likely the right one. If any of them feels off, it's better to keep looking before signing the booking: it's far cheaper to change venue in advance than to try to fix, on the day, a space that doesn't work.

At Kaizen Team Building we help weigh up these criteria case by case, because every team, every city and every goal calls for a different kind of space. If you're unsure what type of location best suits the activity you have in mind, our FAQ section answers the most common questions, and you can also check out our city-specific proposals, such as those for Barcelona, to see real examples of venues and formats.