It’s a true gift when people who share an interest finally get to spend more than a couple of hours together.
The book club that usually squeezes its discussion into a weeknight can linger over coffee all morning. The knitting group can settle into comfortable chairs and work without watching the clock. Photography friends can chase sunrise, compare images over lunch and head back outside for sunset. Old friends can reconnect without having to rush home at the end of the evening.
That’s the appeal of a three-day club or hobby retreat: enough time to settle in, slow down and enjoy the people who share your passions.
For retreat planners looking for a Colorado destination that combines comfortable yet affordable accommodations, flexible gathering spaces, dining, wellness and outdoor adventure, Chipeta Lodge Resort + Spa in Ridgway offers the gathering space that brings people together in the San Juan Mountains.
With 35 uniquely designed guest rooms and suites, Chipeta has the warm atmosphere of a small mountain resort while offering amenities that make group travel easier, including flexible indoor and outdoor gathering spaces, an onsite restaurant and bar, a full-service spa, heated outdoor pool, hot tubs and fire pits.
Whether your group is united by books, cameras, knitting needles, hiking boots, paintbrushes or simply years of friendship, here’s how to turn three days in Ridgway into a retreat everyone will remember.
Why Take Your Club on a Retreat?
Most clubs are organized around an activity. But often, the real reason people keep coming back is the community. A retreat gives that community room to grow.
Instead of a two-hour meeting, your group gets several days for conversation, shared meals, activities and downtime. People who normally only see each other in one setting get to know one another in a completely different way.
And a retreat doesn’t need to be highly structured.
In fact, the best itinerary may be one that deliberately leaves room for spontaneity. Schedule a few anchor activities—perhaps a book discussion, photography outing, workshop or group dinner—and leave generous blocks of time for people to explore, relax or simply sit together.
That balance makes Chipeta Lodge particularly appealing for hobby groups. The resort offers larger meeting spaces as well as lounge-sized spaces, an indoor courtyard and outdoor areas, so groups can shift naturally between planned sessions and casual conversation.
A Retreat for Almost Any Kind of Hobby
One of the advantages of a destination retreat is that the location itself becomes part of the experience.
Book Clubs
Imagine choosing a novel set in the American West and then taking your discussion into the mountains.
Schedule a morning book discussion followed by lunch, a walk through Ridgway and an afternoon of uninterrupted reading. Build a dinner around the book’s setting or theme. Or ask everyone to bring a favorite book to exchange with another member.
The point isn’t necessarily to read more. It’s to have more time to talk about what you’re reading—and everything else.
Knitting, Quilting and Craft Groups
A mountain retreat and a work-in-progress are natural companions.
Plan morning and afternoon knitting or crafting sessions with breaks for meals, spa treatments and fresh mountain air. Members can teach one another techniques, host a small project swap or simply work side-by-side.
Chipeta’s mix of meeting rooms, lounge-style areas and relaxed common spaces means the group doesn’t necessarily have to spend the entire weekend sitting around one conference table.
Photography Clubs
Few hobbies pair with the San Juan Mountains as naturally as photography.
Ridgway can serve as a basecamp for photographing mountain landscapes, wildlife, historic towns, fall color, wildflowers and dramatic skies. Your club might schedule sunrise and sunset shoots, then return to the lodge for an image review or informal critique session.
Even the resort’s rooftop provides an opportunity to gather outdoors with panoramic mountain views.
Painting, Writing and Creative Groups
Writers, painters, scrapbookers and other creative clubs can use a retreat as both workshop and inspiration. Schedule a quiet creative block in the morning, take an afternoon excursion, then gather again in the evening to share what everyone produced. Changing your surroundings can be exactly what a creative group needs to generate new ideas.
Cul-de-Sac Friends Who Need No Reason to Get Together
You don’t actually need a hobby, or a reason. Sometimes it’s the friends on the neighborhood cul-de-sac who just want to get away together, or a mini-reunion of college friends, former coworkers, or lifelong friends who keep saying, We should all go somewhere together.
Consider this your reason.
Gathering Spaces Make the Retreat
For a retreat planner, guest rooms are only part of the equation. You also need to ask: Where will everyone actually spend time together? This is where Chipeta Lodge Resort + Spa shines.
The Kiva
The Kiva provides a larger indoor gathering environment with floor-to-ceiling windows for exceptional daylight, mountain-inspired décor and flexible seating. We recommend the space for teaching and collaborative sessions, but those same characteristics can work well for book discussions, workshops, demonstrations, group projects or photography critiques.
Rooftop Deck
Some conversations are simply better with a mountain view.
Chipeta’s panoramic rooftop terrace can be used for outdoor gatherings, happy hours and casual group time. For a hobby retreat, imagine morning coffee on the rooftop, a sunset photography session or drinks together before dinner.
Great Room and Lounge-Style Spaces
Not every moment needs to be an official “session.”
The Great Room is a place for guests to relax around a fireplace, while there are also smaller, more intimate corners for hanging out together and gathering in small groups throughout the property. These can provide the kind of informal environment where retreat participants can read, chat and spend downtime together.
Pool, Hot Tubs, Firepits and Outdoor Gathering Areas
Some of the best retreat conversations may happen after the planned activities are finished.
Chipeta offers a heated outdoor pool, adjacent hot tubs and an outdoor gathering terrace with a firepit, along with a games lawn. That creates another setting where everyone can reconnect without a formal agenda.
Everything You Need Without Constantly Getting Back in the Car
A successful three-day retreat shouldn’t feel like a logistical marathon. Having accommodations, gathering areas, food and relaxation available in one location can make life much easier for the organizer.
White Buffalo Bar provides a happy hour setting and can support group experiences ranging from informal gatherings to catered special events.
Meanwhile, Chipeta Lodge Spa by ISUN offers massages, sauna, light therapy and wellness treatments, giving participants an easy way to build some individual relaxation into the weekend.
The lodge also offers a variety of guest-room configurations. Some rooms and suites include kitchens or kitchenettes, private decks, fireplaces or hot tubs, which can be useful when a group includes different budgets, roommate preferences or desired levels of privacy.
A Sample 3-Day Club Retreat at Chipeta Lodge
The secret to a good retreat itinerary is resisting the temptation to schedule every minute. Here’s a possible framework for your next 3-Day retreat.
Day 1: Arrive, Settle In and Reconnect
- Afternoon:
- Arrive in Ridgway and check-in at Chipeta Lodge Resort + Spa.
- Give everyone time to settle into their rooms, explore the property and decompress from the drive.
- 4:00 p.m.: Welcome gathering.
- Meet in one of the lodge’s gathering spaces or, weather permitting, on the rooftop. Keep the first activity simple: drinks, snacks and introductions.
- For clubs whose members already know each other, ask everyone to share one thing they hope to get out of the weekend.
- 5:00 p.m.: Free time.
- Take a short walk around Ridgway, visit the pool or hot tubs, or simply relax.
- 7:00 p.m.: Group dinner in Ridgway.
- Make the first evening social. Skip the formal programming and give everyone time to reconnect over dinner in town. A short walk to Main Street gives access to lots of local choices.
- After dinner:
- Continue the conversation around the resort or call it an early night. The mountains will still be there tomorrow.
Day 2: Immerse Yourself in the Hobby
- 7:00–9:00 a.m.: Breakfast and morning activity.
- For photographers, this could mean an early landscape shoot.
- For writers, it might be quiet writing time.
- For knitters, coffee and a couple of peaceful hours working on projects.
- For a book club, schedule leisurely breakfast followed by the weekend’s main discussion.
- 10:00 a.m.–noon: Group session.
- Reserve gathering space for the central activity of the retreat: a workshop, guest speaker, demonstration, book discussion, photography critique or creative project.
- Noon: Lunch and downtime.
- Give everyone breathing room. Retreat guests should feel free to take a nap, book a spa treatment, explore Ridgway or relax at the lodge.
- 2:30 p.m.: San Juan Mountains field trip.
- This is the time to get outside.
- Your group might visit nearby Ouray, explore Ridgway, take a scenic drive, go hiking or visit Ridgway State Park. Ridgway is especially useful as a retreat base because Ouray is approximately 15 minutes away, while Telluride is roughly 45 minutes away.
- Photography clubs can turn the afternoon into a photo safari. Art groups can sketch landscapes. Book clubs might browse shops and cafés before regrouping.
- This is the time to get outside.
- 5:30 p.m.: Return to Chipeta.
- Schedule an hour of nothing.
- Hot tub. Spa. Shower. Nap. Read. Knit.
- 7:00 p.m.: Dinner and evening gathering.
- After dinner, head to the rooftop, courtyard or another gathering area. Book clubs could host a book exchange. Photography groups could show their favorite images from the afternoon. Craft groups could hold a show-and-tell.
- Or forget the agenda entirely and just enjoy being together.
Day 3: One Last Gathering
- 9:00 a.m.: Leisurely morning.
- Enjoy coffee and breakfast, followed by one final group session.
- Look back and recognize the best, most successful moments. What was your favorite activity? What did you learn? What project will you finish when you get home? What book should the club read next? What would you change and why? What should we add or remove for the next time?
Most importantly: When should we do this again?
Follow the gathering with a final walk around Ridgway, a spa treatment or one more soak before checking out.
Give Your Group Enough Space—and Enough Free Time
One of the most common retreat-planning mistakes is overscheduling. Your members already have busy lives. A mountain retreat shouldn’t become another checklist.
Try planning around just two or three shared experiences each day. Let the resort and destination fill in the spaces between them. Stay flexible and willing to adjust the schedule if the group wants to change it up.
Someone may decide to get a massage. Someone else may sit with a novel. Two friends might disappear for coffee. Half the group may end up talking around the firepit much longer than planned. The unscheduled moments often become the reason everyone wants to come back.
Turn Your Next Club Meeting Into a Mountain Retreat
You already know what brings your group together. Now give yourselves the time and place to enjoy it.
With 35 distinctive guest rooms, flexible indoor and outdoor gathering areas, the Kiva, rooftop terrace, Great Room, pool, hot tubs, onsite spa and White Buffalo Restaurant + Bar, Chipeta Lodge Resort + Spa offers many of the pieces a planner needs to turn a book club, photography club, knitting circle, creative group or gathering of friends into a memorable multi-day getaway.
And beyond the lodge are Ridgway, Ouray, Telluride and the extraordinary landscapes of the San Juan Mountains—ready whenever your group wants to trade its meeting room for a little adventure.
Bring the books. Bring the cameras. Bring the knitting needles. Most importantly, bring your people.
Then give yourselves three days to reconnect, create and enjoy the mountains together.
