2027 Lake Junaluska Winter Youth Retreats: Options for every group

Choose the perfect winter retreat experience for your youth group at Lake Junaluska! We offer three flexible packages designed to accommodate your group’s needs and goals, featuring:

Winter youth retreats offer two ski/programming weekends in 2026.

Option 1: ENCOUNTER 2027 – #NoFilter

2027 Dates: Jan 15-18 (MLK weekend) or Feb 12-15 (Presidents’ Day weekend)

Based on Psalm 139, these weekends are specifically designed to inspire growth and encourage a #NoFilter life through powerful worship, impactful messages, and community-building opportunities. Help your students discover the freedom of being fully known and fully loved. Empower your youth to live authentically before God.

Our ENCOUNTER weekends offer a fully programmed experience, combining lodging, meals, dynamic speakers, and engaging activities designed to help your group strip away the distractions and build a genuine, transparent connection with Christ.

Speaker: Michael Beck, pastor, professor, author and thought leader

The guest speaker will be the Rev. Dr. Michael Adam Beck, currently a pastor, professor, author and thought leader in the Fresh Expressions movement. Beck, a popular youth speaker, recently spoke at IGNITE 2025: A Celebration of Creativity & Connection, the youth conference for New Jersey and New York United Methodist Church in Wildwood, New Jersey.

Beck serves as the co-pastor of Wildwood UMC, St. Marks UMC, and Compassion UMC all in Florida with his wife, Jill, where they direct addiction recovery programs, a jail ministry, a food pantry, an interracial unity movement, and house a faith-based inpatient treatment center. Wildwood and St. Marks are traditional congregations and a network of 13 fresh expressions that gather in tattoo parlors, dog parks, salons, running tracks, community centers, burrito joints and digital spaces.

Registration starts at just $193 per person!

2-Day Weekend Package (2 Nights / 4 Meals): $193 per person or
3-Day Weekend Package (3 Nights / 7 Meals): $273 per person

Option 2: UMC Confirmation Retreats

Feb. 26 – 28, 2027 or March 12 – 14, 2027

These retreats provide a meaningful confirmation experience for your youth in a dedicated setting. They are designed to support and enhance your church’s confirmation experience and to help your youth explore their faith and the unique relationship to the United Methodist Church. These retreats also offer a deeper journey for adult confirmation mentors to help guide youth in this important and next step in their faith journey.

Youth will experience prayer stations that engage conversation with God, hands-on worship activities, music and art to affirm gifts to be shared and service projects to build servant hearts. Stole making is included.

What’s included: Comfortable lodging, delicious meals and specialized programming tailored for the confirmation journey.

Rates begin as low as $193 per person!

Learn More

Option 3: Build Your Own Retreat

What’s included: Comfortable lodging and delicious meals.
Perfect for: Groups who want to design their own programming, bring their own speakers, or simply enjoy a restful time together in the beautiful mountain setting of Lake Junaluska. We provide the perfect base for your customized retreat.
Ski, snowboard or tubing add-on: Make this weekend even more thrilling! You can add an afternoon of skiing or snowboarding at Cataloochee Ski Area. Rentals and lift passes are not included in the retreat pricing.

Starting as low as $114 per person!

Youth & Adult Leader Lodging

We offer several lodging options that are popular with youth groups at Lake Junaluska including Mountainview, Lake Junaluska Apartments and Hillside Lodge. All are close to Shackford Hall, York Dining Commons and Lake Junaluska’s recreation areas.

A great budget option for hostel-hoppers or youth groups, Mountainview’s rooms offer simplicity and can accommodate four to six people.

Comfortable, convenient and economical, Lake Junaluska Apartments can host from four to 10 people. Many have kitchenettes and some are pet-friendly.

Popular with groups, Hillside Lodge features 25 motel-style rooms with a large lobby. Lake Junaluska Outfitters, the pool and playground are just steps away.

Nestled in the heart of Lake Junaluska, the lakeside Terrace Hotel is convenient to the Harrell Center, Stuart Auditorium and the Rose Walk. Come relax in a rocking chair on one of the balconies or read a book by the large fireplace in the spacious lobby.

Built in 1921, Lake Junaluska’s “stately lady” is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A renovation in 2018 added modern conveniences while preserving the inn’s historic details and atmosphere. Stroll through the gardens to nearby Inspiration Point to watch the sunset over the lake and mountains.

Youth & Adult Leader Dining

Our beautiful York Dining Commons, with its new flooring, gleaming buffet line, new chairs and other upgrades, make dining during youth retreats a wonderful time for fellowship, especially with the spacious deck overlooking the lake. The food is as good as the furnishings are great, thanks to our wonderful culinary team that makes every meal a satisfying experience.

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Lake Junaluska will be partnering with local organizations to serve our neighbors here in Haywood and Jackson counties.

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Please see our current health and safety protocols for more information on how all of the Lake Junaluska staff is maintaining a high standard of sanitation in all Lake Junaluska facilities.

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Yes, if you are attending an Encounter weekend. The ski package includes either a set of skis or a snowboard, fitted boots, and your lift ticket. Each person can choose whether they would like to ski or snowboard. Helmets can be rented for an additional fee.

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No. Groups are responsible for off-site transportation.