Studio M Travel is a luxury travel advisory specializing in group trips built around shared interests. This guide covers 36 hand-selected properties for six of the most popular group travel themes: food and wine, pickleball, golf, yoga and Pilates, mahjong, and adventure. The list deliberately mixes five-star icons with accessible luxury, and includes a strong slate of US options (California, Oregon, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Vermont, Colorado, Arizona, Montana, Texas, and Florida) alongside the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Italy, Portugal, France, Indonesia, Thailand, Bhutan, Vietnam, Kenya, Australia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Canada. Founder Marilyn Olson handles property selection, room blocks, group logistics, and on-trip details for groups of friends, families, clubs, and teams.

Some of the best group trip ideas I work with do not start with a destination. They start with a thing.

A natural wine group chat that has gotten slightly out of hand. A standing pickleball game with a rivalry nobody will admit to. A weekly yoga class. A mahjong group that did not exist a year ago and now somehow meets twice a week. A golf group that’s been playing every Saturday for as long as anyone can remember (Hi, Dad!).

If your group has a shared obsession, you are closer to a great trip than you think. The destination is the easy part. What usually stops a group trip from happening is everything else: who books what, who collects the deposits, who chases the one friend who never answers the group text. (Psst: every group has one. If you cannot think of who it is, I have news for you.)

That is where I come in. As a travel advisor who specializes in group trips, I handle the property, the rooms, the logistics, and the details that make a trip feel effortless instead of like a second job for whoever accidentally volunteered to organize it. Your group gets to focus on the thing that brought you together in the first place.

Below are six of the interests I am building group trips around right now, with 36 properties between them. Two things I kept in mind while building this list. First, a friends’ trip does not always call for a long-haul flight, so you will find plenty of options that do not require a passport. Second, group trips come with group budgets, so I deliberately mixed five-star icons with accessible luxury that still feels special. Nobody should have to sit out the trip because the group only considered the splurge.

If your group’s obsession is not on this list, all the more reason for us to brainstorm something nobody else has done.

Food and Wine Group Trips

For the group that plans entire weekends around a restaurant reservation and has strong opinions about natural versus conventional wine. These five properties will pair well with your crew.

Blackberry Farm, Walland, Tennessee

A Relais & Châteaux estate in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains with one of the most decorated culinary programs in the country. The kitchen, the cellar, and the farm all work together here, and the property is built for groups who want to cook, taste, and linger over long tables. No passport required for one of America’s great food destinations.

Carneros Resort & Spa, Napa, California

An estate with farm-to-table dining sourced from its own gardens, set among the vineyards of Carneros. For groups that want world-class wine country without crossing an ocean, this is the answer. The cottage-style layout also works beautifully for groups who want to be together without being on top of each other.

Borgo Egnazia, Puglia, Italy

Built to resemble a centuries-old Puglian masseria, complete with its own working farm. The whole property feels like a whitewashed village that has always been there, and the food philosophy is rooted in what grows around it. For a wine and food group, this is the kind of place where the cooking class becomes the story everyone tells afterward.

Six Senses Douro Valley, Samodães, Portugal

A 19th-century manor set inside Portugal’s oldest demarcated wine region. Vineyard views from nearly everywhere, a serious wine program, and the Douro River winding below. This is the accessible luxury pick for the wine crowd: Portugal remains one of the best values in high-end travel, which matters when you are coordinating a trip for eight.

Hôtel du Palais Biarritz

A a Belle Époque palace on the Basque Coast with a Michelin-recognized restaurant. The Basque region is one of the most exciting food destinations in Europe, and Biarritz puts you within reach of both French and Spanish tables. Bring the group that wants glamour with their gastronomy.

Pickleball Group Trips

For the group that has a rotation, a rivalry, and at least one person who insists they are not competitive. (They are.) Bring your game to one of these five resorts.

Rancho Valencia, Rancho Santa Fe, California

One of the top racquet sports properties in California, and conveniently in my backyard here in San Diego. This Relais & Châteaux resort takes its racquet program as seriously as its spa, which is exactly the balance most pickleball groups are actually looking for.

La Quinta Resort & Club, La Quinta, California

The accessible luxury pick for pickleball, and a sneaky-great one. This historic Palm Springs-area resort has been a racquet sports destination for generations, the casita-style layout is made for groups, and the rates leave room in the budget for the post-match margaritas.

The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs, Colorado

A historic Colorado resort with group packages that bundle court time and accommodations. The Broadmoor has been hosting groups for over a century, and it shows in how seamlessly they handle the details. Mountain air and a post-match cocktail on the lake do not hurt either.
 

Tortuga Bay, Puntacana Resort & Club, Dominican Republic

Suites and villas designed by Oscar de la Renta, with court time at the resort’s Oscar de la Renta Tennis Center, which includes dedicated pickleball courts alongside its tennis and paddle facilities. Your group also gets an Embajador, a personal concierge who handles everything from airport arrival to court reservations. Pickleball, but make it couture.

Round Hill Hotel & Villas, Montego Bay, Jamaica

An oceanfront resort with courts for everything from casual play to competitive tournaments. Round Hill has a storied, old-Hollywood-in-Jamaica feel, and it is one of the rare places where a pickleball group and their non-playing partners will both be perfectly happy.

Golf Group Trips

For the group with a standing tee time and a group chat named after somebody’s worst shot. The annual golf trip is one of the most enduring group travel traditions there is, and these six properties are where I would send yours.

Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Bandon, Oregon

The undisputed home of the American buddies trip. Walking-only links golf on the Oregon coast, multiple courses that regularly rank among the best in the country, and an atmosphere built entirely around the game. Your group plays 36 a day, compares scorecards over dinner, and starts planning the return trip before checkout.

Pebble Beach Resorts, Pebble Beach, California

The bucket-list round, full stop. Pebble Beach Golf Links, Spyglass Hill, and Spanish Bay in one stay, with The Lodge overlooking the 18th green. For a group marking a milestone birthday or a long-overdue reunion, few trips carry this much weight in the retelling.

Pinehurst Resort, Pinehurst, North Carolina

The cradle of American golf, anchored by the legendary No. 2. With multiple courses on property and a village that revolves entirely around the game, Pinehurst is built for groups who want history with their handicaps. 

Sea Island, Georgia

A Forbes Five-Star resort on the Georgia coast that hosts the PGA Tour’s RSM Classic. The golf is championship caliber, and the rest of the resort holds its own, which matters for the group members who want a spa afternoon between rounds. 

Casa de Campo, La Romana, Dominican Republic

I know this property firsthand, and it is one of my favorite recommendations for golf groups because it delivers so much for the spend. The headliner is Teeth of the Dog, the Pete Dye masterpiece with holes that run right along the Caribbean and a permanent spot atop the regional rankings. The villa setup is ideal for groups, and the accessible luxury pricing means nobody has to flinch at the group text when the numbers come in.

Puntacana Resort & Club, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

If the name sounds familiar, this is the same resort that is home to Tortuga Bay from the pickleball list. The draw for golfers is Corales, the Tom Fazio course whose oceanside finishing stretch has hosted the PGA Tour. For a mixed group, this might be the cleverest booking on this list: your golfers get Corales, your pickleball players get the Oscar de la Renta Tennis Center, and everyone meets back at the beach.

Yoga and Pilates Group Trips

For the group that keeps their cores engaged even at brunch, and the group that packs their own travel mats. Wellness crews are some of my favorite groups to plan for because the shared practice gives the whole trip its rhythm. Here are nine places worth unrolling a mat, starting close to home. 

Sensei Porcupine Creek, Rancho Mirage, California

A desert estate with yoga woven into a personalized wellness program. Sensei builds each guest’s program around their own goals, which means everyone in your group gets their own version of the trip while still being on it together.

Civana Wellness Resort & Spa, Carefree, Arizona

The accessible luxury pick for wellness groups, and proof that a retreat does not have to cost like a sabbatical. Civana’s class schedule is generous and included, the Sonoran Desert setting does half the work, and the approachable rates make it easy to get the whole group to yes.

Woodstock Inn & Resort, Woodstock, Vermont

A countryside resort with a dedicated Pilates studio in one of New England’s prettiest villages. For groups that want a closer-to-home retreat with covered bridges, farm dinners, and a proper studio, Woodstock delivers in every season.
 

Clayoquot Wilderness Lodge, Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia

A wilderness camp with morning yoga in an old-growth rainforest on Canada’s west coast. Tented luxury, whale watching, and a practice surrounded by thousand-year-old trees. For the group that wants their savasana with actual forest sounds rather than a recording of them.
 

Lily of the Valley, Cap d’Antibes, French Riviera

A beachfront property on the French Riviera with both reformer and mat classes. The setting alone is worth the trip, and the wellness program is genuinely rigorous rather than decorative. Riviera light, Mediterranean swims, and a reformer with a view.

COMO Shambhala Estate, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia

A jungle retreat with multi-day immersive programs and resident instructors. This is not a hotel with a class on the schedule. It is a wellness estate where movement, nutrition, and rest are the entire point of the stay. One of my clients just returned for a second visit because one trip was not enough, and that is a review no marketing copy can fake.

Chiva-Som Hua Hin Wellness Resort, Hua Hin, Thailand

One of Asia’s most respected wellness destinations, with a fully equipped studio and decades of expertise behind every program. For a group ready to take their practice seriously for a week, few places on earth do it better.

NIHI Sumba, Sumba Island, Indonesia

A hotel on a remote island for the group that has already done Bali. NIHI is consistently ranked among the best hotels in the world, and its blend of yoga, surf, and wild coastline makes it ideal for a group that wants their practice with a side of adventure.

Amankora, Bhutan

A cultural lodge journey through the world’s last Buddhist kingdom. Amankora moves you between lodges across Bhutan’s valleys, with monasteries, mountain passes, and a depth of spiritual context no studio at home can replicate. This is the trip your yoga group talks about for the rest of their lives.

Mahjong Group Trips

Yes, mahjong. If it has not reached your friend group yet, give it a month. The game is sweeping the country right now, and the trips are following close behind. For the group that wants a change of scenery while they shuffle tiles, here are five ways to make the next game into a trip.

The Colony Hotel, Palm Beach, Florida

The pink Palm Beach icon where mahjong has become practically a house sport. Between rounds there is the pool, Worth Avenue, and the kind of people-watching only Palm Beach provides. An easy domestic flight for most groups, and a very good time.

Bowie House, Auberge Resorts Collection, Fort Worth, Texas

A property with a weekly mahjong night, more proof that you do not need a passport for this one. Fort Worth’s cultural district is steps away, and Auberge’s service standard means your group is looked after from the moment you arrive.

Round Hill Hotel & Villas, Montego Bay, Jamaica

The same Round Hill from the pickleball list, and for good reason: it has floating mahjong boards in the pool. I will let that sentence speak for itself.

Scenic Luxury Cruises, Rhine, Danube, Mekong, and beyond

A river cruise where entire countries pass by between rounds. River cruising is one of the easiest formats for groups, since you unpack once and the destinations come to you. The all-inclusive fares also make budgeting refreshingly simple when several households are splitting a trip.

Capella Hanoi, Hanoi, Vietnam

A hotel in a city where the game has been part of daily life for generations. Playing mahjong in Hanoi connects your group’s new obsession to its living history, and the hotel itself is a jewel box of a property in the heart of the city.

Adventure Group Trips

For the group that would rather hike, track, paddle, and safari than sit poolside. Here are six trips worth committing to.

Under Canvas, near America’s national parks

The accessible luxury pick for adventure groups. Under Canvas puts upscale safari-style tents just outside parks like Zion, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, and Moab, so your group hikes all day and compares notes around the campfire at night. All the atmosphere of an expedition without the expedition invoice.

The Ranch at Rock Creek, Philipsburg, Montana

An all-inclusive luxury ranch where your group can fly fish, ride, hike, and shoot clays by day, then gather around one table at night. Ranch trips are tailor-made for groups because the whole property functions like a private camp. For larger crews, a full buyout turns it into your own corner of Montana. 

Pikaia Lodge, Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos, Ecuador

An eco-lodge inside the Galápagos. The wildlife here behaves as if humans were never a threat, because they never were. For a group of nature lovers, there is no destination on earth quite like it. 

Fairmont Mara Safari Club, Maasai Mara, Kenya

A tented camp on the banks of Kenya’s Mara River. Game drives by day, the sounds of the river at night, and the kind of shared experience that bonds a group permanently. Safari is the original group trip, and the Mara is its greatest stage. 

Longitude 131°, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Australia

A desert camp with unobstructed views of Uluru. Each tented pavilion faces the rock, so your group watches it change color at sunrise without leaving bed. Remote, otherworldly, and unforgettable.

El Silencio Lodge & Spa, Bajos del Toro, Costa Rica

A mountain retreat tucked into Costa Rica’s cloud forest. Waterfalls, hanging bridges, and mornings wrapped in mist. Costa Rica holds a special place at Studio M, and this lodge shows a quieter, greener side of the country than most travelers ever see.

What Working With a Group Travel Advisor Actually Looks Like

Here is the part nobody tells you about group trips: the property is maybe twenty percent of the work. The rest is room blocks, payment schedules, dietary notes, arrival logistics, the friend who books late, and the dozens of small decisions that pile up on whoever raised their hand to organize.

When you plan your group trip with me, all of that moves to my desk. I negotiate the room block, manage who has paid and who has not, coordinate with the property on every detail, and stay on call while you travel. Through my partnerships with Fora and the Virtuoso network, your group often receives perks like upgrades, resort credits, and special amenities that are not available booking on your own.

The result is a trip where everyone in your group, including the organizer, actually gets to be on vacation.

Whether one of these 36 properties fits your group or your crew bonds over something I have not even thought of yet, I am here to build the trip around it.

Frequently Asked Questions About Group Travel

How many people do I need for a group trip?

There is no magic number. I plan trips for groups as small as three couples and as large as multi-family milestone celebrations. The right approach depends on your group’s size, but the value of having one person handle the logistics applies at every size.

How far in advance should we start planning a group trip?

Earlier than you think. For the properties in this guide, I recommend starting nine to twelve months out, especially for peak seasons and trips requiring a room block. That said, if your group is ready to move quickly, reach out and I will tell you honestly what is realistic.

What does a group travel advisor handle?

Property research and selection, room blocks, payment coordination, dining reservations, activity bookings, special requests, and on-trip support. In short, everything that would otherwise fall on one overwhelmed member of your group.

Can you plan a group trip around an interest not listed here?

Absolutely, and those are often my favorite trips to plan. If your group bonds over fly fishing, opera, birding, bourbon, or anything else, there is a property and an itinerary for it. The more specific the obsession, the better the trip.

Do we all have to travel from the same city?

Not at all. Many of my groups depart from different cities and meet at the destination. I coordinate arrivals so the trip starts smoothly for everyone, no matter where they are flying from.