Your Ultimate Guide to Santa Monica
From trendy restaurants to gorgeous beaches, Santa Monica is the perfect blend of city and scenic needed to host an epic retreat.
Only eight non-freeway miles from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Santa Monica is a great place to gather your international team.
For airport arrivals, we recommend using a rotating bus or giving your employees an uber credit.
But we know picking the location is only the first step in retreat planning. So having hosted a few, okay, more than a few, of our retreats in Santa Monica, we figured we'd give you a leg up, starting with food and drink and working through the venue, workspace, activities, and more!
Food & Drink
Let's talk about the bread, butter, and beverages of retreats.
Most venues have a food and beverage minimum, so it's important to look at your contract before making catering plans and a list of must-eats. Having been around the block a few times, we've figured out the perfect way to optimize your food and drink budget.
We recommend starting with a happy hour event on the first night and saving a special dinner on the last night. Fortunately, there's no storage of trendy restaurants in the Santa Monica area, but these are our favorites.
One look through the menu, and it's obvious why this unique restaurant is a Santa Monica favorite. Singaporean chili crab, oxtail dumplings, honeycomb ice cream, and that's just the food! With a more expensive selection, this restaurant is perfect for when corporate is in town, and you need to make a great impression.
Huckleberry, passion fruit, Saigon cinnamon crumb, and of course, your old fashion- just a few of the donut flavors Sidecar offers that are perfect for combatting those sweet cravings.
What's better than delicious food? Eating delicious food served family style to optimize team bonding and let you sample a little bit of everything. And Birdie G's offers just that and more! Located in the art gallery hotspot, Bergamot Station, this trendy hit offers taste from all over the world. Seriously, from a twist on the Jewish classic, matzo ball soup, to Persian spiced rice and rose petal pie, you'll leave feeling like you just got done backpacking.
We're a huge advocate of having company happy hours; even more so when it's at one of these trendy bars:
Not only will you get to taste the world with Birdie G's, but this art-deco bar will make you feel like you just stepped into 20th-century Paris. And with cocktails like…., you'll be glad the hotel isn't a whole flight away.
You can practically smell the sweet blend of bourbon and orange liqueur just looking in the large windows of Chestnut Club and seeing the exposed brick, dim lighting, and studded leather sofas. After all, there's a reason; the old movies always show business people meeting over a whiskey on the rocks.
One word: karaoke. If you're familiar with Offsite, you probably know how much we adore karaoke. Why? It's quite simple- nothing encourages team bonding like jamming to your favorite tunes and not being afraid to put on a good show, but this might require a little liquid courage, which is why this old-school karaoke dive bar is one of our favorites.
Brew Works is Santa Monica's first & only craft brewery, making it the perfect place for a casual happy hour.
Not feeling the brews? This stunning wine bar has the perfect glass, no matter your grape preference.
TEAM BONDING
Watch more retreat BTS here!
For retreats, we offer a mix of two types of team events: structured and unstructured.
We have many structured team events throughout our blog, from team Olympics to Lipsync Karaoke which would be perfect for hosting at Annenberg Community Beach House. Still, some of our favorites are bucket-list experiences unique to the location.
We’re obsessed with some of these Santa Monica-specific events we found:
Wanna play mermaids? No, seriously? In this 45-minute class, you get taken to Atlanta, where you learn how to use your tail. I mean, think, what a cool party trick it will be.
This 3-hour Airbnb tour is perfect for Santa Monica first-timers. From hidden beaches and secret viewpoints to legendary canyon roads, your guide shows you a local view.
Hollywood Sign Hike and Comedy Tour
We get it; sometimes, traditional tours can feel stiff, which is why this comedy tour is one of our favorites. Led by local comedians and actors, some of who have even been on NBC and Jimmy Kimmel Live, this hike leads you to the infamous Hollywood sign, where you leave with approximately 3000 new jokes and tons of Instagram photos.
Kayak with sea lions in Marina del Rey
You thought you were going to plan a retreat in California without going in the water? Hell, no. And well, the beach will do. There’s nothing quite like kayaking through the California sea, especially when there’s an opportunity for a chance encounter with sea lions!
While we love structured team events, it’s essential not to forget about downtime, where unstructured team bonding comes in.
Choosing your own experience is the perfect opportunity to allow the team to explore the city for themselves, from finding a book at The Last Bookstore, perusing the local boutiques like Vacation Vinyl, or taking a walk at Palisades Park.
WHERE TO STAY
Are you looking for a place to host an epic retreat? We know just the spot: Loews Santa Monica Hotel. From its luxurious amenities to the epic events, We write an entire article about why this hotel is perfect for your next offsite…oh wait, we did. Click here for an insider’s look at Loew’s Hotel.
All the above images are courtesy of Loews Hotel's Instagram.
WHERE TO WORK
While Loew's has many meeting rooms to choose from, we're all about giving you options. After all, we know the key to a good event is a great venue. So here are some of our favorite PeerSpace venues to choose from:
An outdoor patio located above Venice's infamous TACO institution? Yes, please! This venue screams company happy hour and team bonding.
If you're looking for space, this 7,000-square-foot mansion is perfect. Spend time working in the studio room and then relax in the backyard oasis equipped with a pool, hot tub, and lotus belle tent.
Are you looking for the perfect classic bar to hold your murder mystery night? Look no further. With a hidden back-alley entrance, dimly lit ambiance, and old-money chandeliers, this lounge is the mysterious venue you'd find in an Agatha Christie novel.
We could write an entire book on hosting an epic retreat in Santa Monica, but the key to hosting a memorable retreat is personalizing it to your team. And lucky for you, that’s our expertise! So schedule a free consultation call with our experts today to make the most of your next retreat.