Three-day company convention in the Pyrenees: the Cerdanya

Why the Pyrenees for a company convention?

The Cerdanya is a wide, sunny valley in the Pyrenees, about two hours from Barcelona, ringed by mountains and with ski resorts a few minutes away. For a convention it offers something the city cannot: a demanding but accessible environment, where a shared physical challenge becomes the best metaphor for the year's objective. Teams come home with a common story they remember all year.

We suggest a three-day outline programme, with a four-day option. We tailor it to the group's fitness level, to your objectives and above all to the season: the programme in July is not the same as in February.

Hotel Fontanals Golf as your base

We suggest Hotel Fontanals Golf, in Soriguerola, for its scale and location. It has 60 rooms and meeting spaces for events of up to 180 people, sits next to the 18-hole, par 72 Fontanals golf course and is in the middle of the valley, close to the La Molina and Masella ski resorts and to Puigcerdà. With a group of up to about 120 people sharing rooms, the whole team sleeps, works and eats in the same place.

For small or leadership groups there are other options in the valley, such as Mercer Torre del Remei, in Bolvir, or the Basecamps cabins.

What is Basecamps and what role does it play in the programme?

Basecamps, in Queixans, a few minutes from the hotel, is a nature tourism project built around responsible tourism and a connection with the local area. It offers accommodation in cabins, tents and pitches, a restaurant, Fire Kitchen, focused on cooking over fire and on local producers, and a range of guided experiences: yoga, ceramics, mushroom foraging, cycling, bouldering, via ferrata, balloon flights and astronomy nights. It also designs tailor-made experiences for companies, booked in advance.

In this programme we use it in two ways. For a mid-sized group, as the setting for the day one dinner and the stargazing night. For a small leadership team, as accommodation and the base for the whole offsite.

'Hasta la cima': how we design the mountain challenge

In the Cerdanya we produced 'Hasta la cima' (To the summit) for Lindt, a snow experience that drew on mountaineering and mountain sports to work on cohesion, self-improvement and bringing together different levels of the organisation. Day 2 of this programme builds on that experience.

The challenge grows out of the day one workshop: each team translates the year's objective into a summit with stages. The next day, in the mountains, each physical stage comes with a communication, orienteering or trust task, always with qualified guides and alternatives for every level. In the afternoon, a facilitated debrief links what happened up there to each team's work. That way the activity becomes part of the convention's content.

What changes with the season

Water deserves a separate note. Rafting in the Cerdanya area takes place on the Segre Olympic channel in La Seu d'Urgell, about 45-50 minutes away: that is why we keep it for the four-day version, where it fits without squeezing the programme.

Logistics and transfers

The journey from Barcelona takes about two hours via the C-16 and the Cadí tunnel. We leave at 8:00 to start mid-morning and return on the last day after lunch, arriving in Barcelona around 17:30. Distances in the valley are short: Basecamps, Puigcerdà, Llívia and the ski resorts are between five and 25 minutes from the hotel.

In the mountains, logistics carry more weight than in other destinations: qualified guides according to participant ratios, activity insurance, technical equipment, suitable clothing and a plan B for every outing. We coordinate all of it and send you a packing list for attendees a week beforehand.

Budget: what it depends on

The cost lines are accommodation, meeting rooms and technical production, catering, transfers, guides and equipment, activities and coordination. In this programme what moves the cost most is the season, especially winter because of ski passes and equipment, the number of guides the group size requires and whether you add the fourth day. We break it all down in the proposal, and our guide how much a convention costs explains each factor.

If you want nature closer to Barcelona, see the convention in Montserrat or the Costa Brava; all the options are in convention programmes. For the activity on its own, without a convention, see team building.

Want to take your team to the summit? Tell us your dates, numbers and the group's fitness level and we will send you a proposal within 24 business hours.

Sources

1. Turisme Cerdanya: Hotel Fontanals Golf (establecimiento MICE)
2. Turisme Cerdanya: Hotel Fontanals Golf
3. Turisme Cerdanya: turismo de empresa
4. Turisme Cerdanya: establecimientos MICE
5. Turisme Cerdanya: Hotel Torre del Remei
6. Costa Brava Pirineu de Girona: Fontanals Golf Club
7. Basecamps Cerdanya: web oficial
8. Basecamps: sobre nosotros
9. Basecamps: experiencias a medida