There’s a moment, sometime in late autumn, when the forest in South Tyrol turns gold. The air is cool but forgiving, the trails quiet, and the scent of pine and woodsmoke seeps into the consciousness like an exhale. It was here, on a winding road to Forestis Dolomites, that a group of executives from a fast-scaling global tech company finally stopped checking their email.
They weren’t here for an offsite.
They were here to reclaim something essential.
In today’s hybrid and virtual-first workplace, burnout is not a buzzword—it’s a global crisis. According to a 2024 Gallup report, 44% of employees worldwide report feeling stressed daily, and nearly 60% of managers say they’ve considered quitting due to overwhelm. A Deloitte study further found that 70% of executives are seriously considering a career change to protect their wellbeing.
The same study also revealed a perception gap: while 87% of employers believe they support employee mental health, only 23% of employees feel cared for.
It’s not just an HR problem. It’s a leadership one.
Burnout doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t care if you’ve got a corner office, unlimited PTO, or three kinds of matcha in the kitchen. In fact, it often hits high-performers hardest—the ones who’ve been holding the company culture, Zoom after Zoom, together with sheer optimism and Slack emojis.
Corporate wellness retreats have existed for years—but something is shifting. The rise of experiential leadership development, paired with wellness-focused offsites, is creating a new category: the executive wellness retreat. And few places on earth are as naturally aligned with this purpose as the Dolomites.
This UNESCO World Heritage site in northern Italy is no longer just a playground for skiers—it’s become one of Europe’s most discreet yet powerful destinations for strategic reset, reflection, and recalibration.
Here, amid silent forests, glacier-carved valleys, and design-led spa resorts, teams are rediscovering what leadership actually feels like—beyond the spreadsheets.
The Dolomites are not a backdrop. They’re a container. One that holds stillness long enough for things to become clear.
It began not in a boardroom, but in a Zoom call.
Maya, the company’s Wellness Manager based in Singapore, had flagged rising burnout scores in their recent engagement survey. HR Director Ingrid (London) was worried about senior leader turnover. Rajiv, VP of Sales (Bangalore), had two team leads resign within three weeks. Meanwhile, Marketing Director Élodie (Paris) simply said:
“I don’t think we’ve looked each other in the eye for a year.”
They didn’t want another summit in a beige conference room. They wanted something that felt human again.
Enter: a four-day executive wellness retreat in the Dolomites.
As their chauffeured minivans wound upward from Bolzano, a hush fell. The air changed. The terrain opened. At 1,800 m, the team arrived at Forestis, a CO₂-neutral wellness sanctuary carved into the forest.
Each executive checked into a minimalist suite facing the Puez-Odle massif. No desk. No inbox. Just snow-tipped silence.
That evening, instead of dinner, they gathered barefoot in a cedar sauna for a guided breathwork ritual followed by a forest-scented tea ceremony.
“I think this is the first time I’ve exhaled in months,” said Marco, the Events Manager from Frankfurt.
The next morning began not with PowerPoint—but with forest bathing. A local somatic therapist guided the team in silence through larch trails. Phones were left behind.
As they walked, a quiet reordering happened. The competitive edge dulled. A Marketing lead and an engineer—who barely spoke in the office—found themselves laughing over tree bark.
In the afternoon, they met in a panoramic studio. Their facilitator, a former executive coach turned mindfulness leader, led a session on leading without urgency.
No slides. Just stories.
Outcomes that day:
And that evening, they shared a meal designed for nervous system repair: slow-cooked barley risotto, roasted root vegetables, pine-smoked trout.
Wellness isn’t just spa treatments. It’s:
Over the next two days, the group moved through a programme of integrated wellness:
At COMO Alpina Dolomites:
At Lefay Resort & SPA Dolomiti:
They laughed in saunas, cried in sound baths, and made strategy decisions by candlelight, not deadlines.
“This is what culture should be,” said Élodie.
Between walks and wellness, insights were shared:
For the HR Manager, these weren’t just numbers. They were retention strategies. For the Events Manager, it was proof that wellness retreats weren’t fluff—they were culture in action. For Marketing, this was employer branding gold.
On the final day, no one wanted to leave.
But they didn’t return with tote bags and hashtags. They returned with:
They left knowing what wellness looked like when it was integrated into the very architecture of work.
As Maya later wrote in her internal wrap-up:
“We didn’t just run a retreat. We redefined how we lead.”
And the humour of trying to order kombucha in Ladin? That stays with you, too.
Whether you’re based in Singapore or San Francisco, Paris or Pune, a wellness retreat in the Dolomites offers global relevance with deeply local roots.
The DMC Collective curates executive wellness retreats that go beyond back-to-back workshops. We integrate:
Let us help you create a retreat where performance meets presence.
📩 Contact us at info@thedmccollective.com to explore options at Forestis, COMO Alpina Dolomites, Lefay, and beyond.
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