OFF-BEAT EUROPEAN INCENTIVES

What can planners offer groups that have "done" Europe several times, but still want something unique? Plenty, say representatives of Europe's tourist offices who provided the following tips. Moreover, many of their ideas won't blow your clients' budgets either.

Take the bike rally enjoyed by Canadian life insurance agents in Holland, for example. "It was totally different," states their director of marketing services.

"Imagine 120 people, all wearing white T-shirts, cycling together over dikes and past windmills to visit a cheese factory. The excursion not only gave us a lot of bang for the buck, but it also helped our organizer win a SITE (Society of Incentive Travel Executives) award."

Here are some other non-traditional ideas to give your European incentives that unique edge.

Unique European cruises and trains

Explore the Turkish coast on a floating villa. Contact: LaCure European Rentals & Yacht Charters.
Charter up to four luxury barges (22 people each) for individual or tandem cruises along European rivers and canals. Contact Abercrombie & Kent Incentives Division.
Charter the elegant Royal Scotsman train for 32-passengers for two to four-night tours of England and Scotland.
Board the Venice Simplon-Orient Express for a 24-hour extravaganza from Paris via Switzerland to Venice.
Charter the Hebridean Princess for up to 49 people for luxury tours of the Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland.

Austria

Waltz lessons, followed by a horse-drawn carriage ride to a costume ball in a Viennese palace.
A formal banquet, for up to 24 people, in Vienna's 60-metre-high Prater ferris wheel. After each 10-minute revolution, white-gloved waiters serve a new course.
Dinner in the vaulted cellar of the 300-year-old Klosterneuburg Abbey with participants and servers dressed as brown-robed monks.
A falcon and eagle show in a medieval castle in Salzburg.
Strudel-making lessons from a top Viennese chef, followed by a tasting.
A private concert by the Vienna Choir Boys.

Conductor directs the Vienna Boys' Choir. Austria.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

France

Cocktails, dinner and dancing in the Eiffel Tower, the Palace of Versailles, or the Pyramid of the Louvre.
Hunting-horn fanfare greeting before lunch at the Royal Chateau of Chambord.
Wine initiation with presentation of scrolls and bronze medals in a medieval cellar.
Hot air ballooning over the thyme fields, olive groves and red-roofed villages of Provence.
Wine-tasting and lunch at the Chateau du Clos Vougeot, home of the Confrérie des Chevaliers du Tastevin, in Burgundy.

Germany

A journey on the original 100-year-old horse-drawn carriages, once used by the German kings. Costumed Royal Bavarian coachmen bring groups of up to 35, from castle to castle, for tours, entertainment and dining.
River-rafting on the Isar, for up to 200 people, on log rafts with beer-barrels and bands onboard.
Bavarian Prince Luitpold escorts guests to Kaltenburg Castle for a jousting tournament, a medieval banquet and a tour of his brewery.
VIP tour and academy awards ceremony at BavariaFilm studios, where Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor and Lisa Minelli starred in films.

Holland

A ship brings passengers out on the Wadden Sea at high tide. When the tide goes out, the ship is stranded. Waiters serve an elegant luncheon on tables, set with silver and crystal, on the sea floor. Guests wear tuxedos, or cocktail gowns and rubber boots.

Cocktails in the caves at Maastricht, Holland.

Photo © Barb & Ron Kroll

Cocktails in the caves at Maastricht, while watching a Tableau Vivant (live portrait) of Rembrandt's Night Watch. (This famous painting, and others, were hidden in these caves during WWI and II.)
A tour of Madurodam's History of Holland, sculpted in sand, followed by lessons from a professional sand-sculptor and a sand-sculpting competition.
A coach tour where the bus develops "engine problems" just outside a warehouse filled with bicycles. Participants continue their sightseeing through the polders by bike.

Italy

A helicopter or airship tour of the Appian Way, the Roman Forum and St. Peter's Square.
Cocktails and tours of Rome's prestigious fashion boutiques, followed by a show of a designer's latest collection. Gifts of designer perfume and ties.
A tour of ancient and modern olive-oil presses, followed by a guided tasting by master oil-makers and a dinner featuring olives dishes.
A toga party in a villa on the Appian Way, with transport by chariot, menu in Latin, classical Roman food, costumes, entertainment and decor.
A thermal bath in a grotto, surrounded by stalactites and stalagmites, followed by a Tuscan buffet and wine at a farmhouse.
A submarine tour of the flora and fauna of Capri's sea floor.
Visits to convents of cloistered nuns to taste the confections they make from secret recipes.

Northern Ireland

A helicopter trip along the spectacular North Antrim Coast, touching down at Bushmills for a "wee dram" at the world's oldest whiskey distillery.
A picnic on the cliff tops at the Giant's Causeway — a mass of basalt columns, stretching like giant stepping stones from the cliffs to the Atlantic.
A story-telling by a turf fire in an old thatched cottage, followed by traditional Irish music.

Portugal

A gala dinner for 150 surrounded by antique carriages in Belém's Royal Coach Museum.
A medieval banquet for up to 300, with costumed entertainment, in St. George's Castle overlooking Lisbon.
Cocktails while watching a show of 18th century-horsemanship in the courtyard of the Post-Master General's Palace near Lisbon.

Scandinavia

Viking-costumed participants sample mead and Nordic foods, ride a Viking ship and see ancient forts, runic stones and Viking artifacts. (Can be timed to join a Viking Festival in Denmark in July.)
A dinner of barbecued salmon, wild mushrooms and other Lapp specialties in Finland, at The Bear's Den Lodge, or in a tepee.
In winter, a reindeer safari in Lapland, ice-golf, and a break-the-ice sauna (literally).
In summer, all-night golf, under the Midnight Sun.

Spain

A tapas (appetizer) bar crawl in Madrid.

Flamenco dance performers. Spain.

Lessons in flamenco dancing and paella-making, followed by a professional show with dinner.
A private guitar recital.
A sheep-herding competition in Granada.
Singing, dancing and dining on Andalusian foods, with the gypsies, in Sacromonte Caves.

Switzerland

Tandem para-gliding from Salève, the mountain dominating Geneva.
A private flight around the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc on a restored DC-3, the "Orient Express of the Sky."
An Alpine Olympics with competitions in cow-milking, alphorn-blowing, flag-throwing and cowbell-ringing.
Golf with red balls on white "greens" on the frozen lake in St. Moritz.
An Alpine bus "stalls" at the top of a snowy mountain, requiring guests to bundle into sledges for a ride to the base where hot spiced wine and cheese fondue await.
A Swiss Farmers' buffet amid the historic buildings of the Ballenberg Open-Air Museum (near Interlaken), with demonstrations of weaving, pottery, cheese and bread-making.

United Kingdom

Dinner in an ornate Livery Hall of a Medieval Guild in London.
A hit musical in London's West End, then a party with the stars.
Dinner with World Leaders and Heads of State at Madame Tussauds in London.
Race-car driving lessons, a course by Britain's top 007 expert, and a visit to the Spymaster Shop on a James Bond incentive at London's Royal Garden Hotel.
Cocktails on the HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship.
Tour of a coal mine in Wales, followed by Welsh music and food in Cardiff Castle.
Private whiskey-tastings in Scotland's famous distilleries and blending your own whiskey.
Dinner with nobility in a private stately home.

TRAVEL INFORMATION

European tourist offices

More meeting and incentive ideas:

Protocol Advice

Meetings and Incentive Travel Trends

Banquet Catering Tips

Small Ships - Big Incentives