ParkBee's second offsite in Estonia, where the curling rink beat the conference room.
ParkBee's second retreat with OnsiteHub - four days across Tallinn that turned the offsite from a nice-to-have into an annual priority.
The question office-based companies never ask
Ask most companies why they organise an offsite and you'll hear a familiar answer: "because we're remote." The team barely sees one another, so the offsite becomes the moment everyone finally meets in person.
ParkBee is our exception. Most of the team works together in the Netherlands. They share an office. They see each other every day. They don't need icebreakers; they already know each other. They don't need team-building exercises; they're already a team. They don't need Slack; they're all in the same room.
So why leave? Because routine wears people down. It saps inspiration. It dulls creativity. Days blur into weeks, weeks into months - and the antidote is a change of scenery.
"Leaving the office behind created space for the conversations and relationships that simply don't happen during a normal working week. More importantly, it created a shared story that everyone brought home together."
The ParkBee team, reflecting after the retreat
Their first company retreat in Brač celebrated a milestone: becoming profitable for the first time. It was a reward. This one represented something different: the beginning of an annual tradition.
Europe's startup capital meets Europe's smartest parking scale-up
The pairing made sense from the start - but the real reason ran deeper. ParkBee is a team of young professionals who wanted a genuine touch of adventure, not just a change of meeting room. A company retreat in Estonia offered exactly that: a real tech capital with the energy of a young, fast-moving city.
So rather than four days moving between bedrooms and meeting spaces under one roof, the retreat became a journey through the city itself. Working sessions in different locations. Dinners in different neighbourhoods. A closing celebration somewhere iconic.
That meant more venues, more suppliers, more transport and more menus than a hotel-based retreat - and every location had to feel like the next chapter of the same story.
Don't start your escape from the office... in an office
ParkBee kicked off at Issei, Tallinn's tallest and most stylish rooftop bar, with the entire city as a panoramic backdrop. Over-elaborate for welcome drinks, dessert and swag collection? Perhaps. But start as you mean to go on.
It set the tone for a retreat that used the city itself as the venue - designed not around rushing between agenda items, but around giving people memorable places to experience together. One little adventure after another.
The city wasn't the backdrop. It was the venue.
When the room changes, so does the conversation
Tallinn is spoiled for cool places to work from, and the most memorable was the Courtyard Tower - a converted nineteenth-century gas holder that once stored the fuel powering the city's streetlights.
Instead of another anonymous conference room, strategy sessions took place inside one of Tallinn's most distinctive industrial landmarks.
It's easy to think creativity comes from workshops or facilitators. Sometimes it starts with changing the room.
Look after the small details and the big details look after themselves
Unlike a retreat centred on one venue, every day in Tallinn involved different restaurants, suppliers, meeting spaces, transport and menus - and every transition had to feel effortless.
That required close collaboration with three highly organised members of ParkBee's team. Every menu reviewed. Every drinks package considered. Every detail approved before the event.
Each morning began the same way: a complete walkthrough of the day's programme, so every supplier, venue and activity was aligned before the first attendee arrived. When plans changed, solutions appeared quickly - and the operational side of the retreat stayed almost invisible to the people attending.
A team of foodies with one hard rule: never eat at the same place twice
Tallinn is the Paris of Northern Europe when it comes to food - Nordic fine dining, creative modern bistros and immersive medieval taverns. For a team stacked with foodies, that mattered.
Every dinner introduced another side of the city. Fresh seafood overlooking the Baltic. Modern Estonian cooking alongside international influences. Sea views one evening, a rooftop skyline the next, a historic neighbourhood after that. Even the hotel's breakfasts comfortably exceeded expectations.
Coached by an Olympian. Hooked in one end.
The team didn't want agenda fillers you can book in any city - they wanted local flavour. And in Tallinn, curling is taking the country by storm.
Before anyone stepped onto the ice, the group was coached by an instructor with Winter Olympic experience - learning the surprising amount of technique, communication and teamwork behind a sport most had only watched on television.
Curiosity quickly became competition. Teams formed naturally, confidence grew with every end, and for a couple of hours, forty-nine colleagues simply enjoyed learning something completely new together. Nobody checked email once.
Ending on a high
The closing night took over Fotografiska Tallinn, one of the city's most iconic cultural venues. Downstairs, a private dining room hosted an elegant seated dinner where the team could indulge and reflect.
Upstairs was the party: a DJ, cocktails, panoramic views across Tallinn and a dance floor. No workshops, no talking shop.
It wasn't designed as fuel for another day. It was built to be a finale with panache - the kind of evening that gives a retreat a clear ending, rather than everyone simply checking out of a hotel the next morning.
Why it was worth leaving the office
The most interesting feedback didn't come from someone who had travelled halfway around the world. It came from people who already work together every day.
"It was my first time when I met all of you. Each activity was great, but the possibility to meet and talk with real faces was the most valuable part for me."
ParkBee attendee
"Getting to spend time with people in person. It provides better understanding of other people's roles, issues and way of work."
ParkBee attendee
Even inside an office, people work alongside one another without always working with one another. And the client summed it up perfectly:
"Yes, the investment was worth it. That combination of stronger bonds and a positive company memory is exactly what drives engagement and makes people want to stay."
ParkBee
From a reward for success to part of the strategy behind it
Sharing an office isn't the same as sharing an experience. Tallinn gave ParkBee four days of new conversations, unexpected experiences and different surroundings - and memories the whole team carried back to the Netherlands together.
Their first offsite celebrated what ParkBee had achieved. This one showed them what these gatherings could achieve. Somewhere between the two, the offsite stopped being a reward for success and became part of the strategy behind it.
Still not sure your team needs this?
Good - that's usually the first sign they do. The companies most convinced they've nothing to gain from leaving the office tend to gain the most. ParkBee didn't fly to Estonia to fix something broken - they went because the best cultures aren't built at a desk alone.
If your team already sees each other every day, you're not the exception to the offsite - you're exactly who it's for. A company offsite in Tallinn offers a working tech capital, industrial landmarks turned workspaces, and curling rinks instead of another conference room. Or tell us where you'd rather go - either way, let's build something worth leaving the office for.
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