"Is this like Boundless Life?" "Is it like a yoga retreat with kids?" "Is it like one of those nomad villages I've seen on Instagram?" These are the three questions parents ask us most often, and they all point to the same underlying confusion: the family-travel category has gotten more crowded, and the labels are not always doing their job.
This article maps the differences cleanly. We will use Cohli as one reference point, since it's what we know best, but the analysis applies regardless of which specific company a family is considering.
Three things, often confused
The three categories worth distinguishing:
- Family coliving cohorts (us, plus a handful of others): a small group of families lives together in one location for a defined period, usually a month or two, with a kids' program and a facilitated daily rhythm.
- Digital nomad villages or hubs: a destination property (often run as a long-term operation) where families and individuals come and go in flexible windows. Examples: Boundless Life Sintra, Tribewise, Outsite. The community shifts as people arrive and leave.
- Family retreat centers: time-bounded, themed experiences (yoga, parenting, breathwork, business) where family attendance is welcomed but the experience is structured around the theme, not around family life.
All three have something to offer. They serve different needs.
Family coliving: small, defined, deep
The defining characteristic of family coliving cohorts: the same group of families, in the same place, for a defined stretch of time. Eight to twelve families, four weeks together, then it ends.
The model trades flexibility for depth. You commit to the full duration. The other families commit to the same. Friendships form because you're inside the same container, not because you're crossing paths in a flexible space.
The kids' program is built around this group of kids, this month, this place. The educator knows every child by name on day three.
What it's good at: deep relational bonds, specific place-based learning, an actual rhythm that doesn't reset weekly, a temporary "village" feeling that some families say is the reason they keep coming back.
What it's harder at: short visits (we don't really do them), maximum flexibility (you commit to dates), being all things to all family configurations.
Digital nomad villages: continuous, flexible, networked
Nomad villages or hubs operate more like long-term running properties. Families and individuals book windows of time. The community shifts as people arrive and leave. Boundless Life is the largest in family-focused space, with multiple hubs in Sintra, Tuscany, Bali, and elsewhere. Tribewise and a few others operate similar models.
The defining characteristic: flexibility of duration and continuity of place. You can come for two weeks or six months. The infrastructure is the same when you arrive in March as in October, but the people are different.
What it's good at: longer-term integration into a place (some families stay six months at a time), maximum scheduling flexibility, the chance to dip in and dip out as your family's life allows, often a richer formal-school option for kids since the school is operating year-round.
What it's harder at: the specific intimacy of a defined cohort. The community at a nomad village is genuine, but it's also constantly shifting. The friendships your kid makes in week one may have moved on by week six. Different model, different value proposition.
Family retreat centers: themed, time-bound, focused
Retreat centers run discrete experiences (a 5-day yoga retreat, a 10-day breathwork intensive, a parenting workshop weekend) where families are welcome but the experience is built around a theme.
The defining characteristic: a specific transformation in a short time, around a clear theme. You're not there primarily for the community of other families; you're there for the theme. The community happens incidentally.
What it's good at: deep intensive work on one specific thing. Often life-changing if the theme matches what you need. Logistics are simple (short duration, defined start and end, clear program).
What it's harder at: the kids' experience. Most retreat centers were designed for individuals first, families second. The kids' program (if it exists) is often basic. The point isn't community; it's the theme.
How to tell which fits
A useful question: what is the primary thing your family is looking for?
- If it's "we want a temporary village for our family, with friendships that go deep and a real rhythm," family coliving cohorts are likely the cleanest fit. Examples: Cohli, plus a few smaller operators in Europe and Latin America.
- If it's "we want to live abroad with our family for several months, with continuity of place and flexibility on dates," a nomad village or hub is likely the better path. Boundless Life is the most-developed in this category for families.
- If it's "we want a focused experience around a theme, and our family is happy to be part of that for a short window," a retreat center fits.
None of these are competitors of each other, really. They serve different needs and many families end up doing more than one in their family-travel life.
The simplest way we explain it: a coliving cohort is a temporary village. A nomad village is a long-term apartment building. A retreat is a workshop with optional childcare. All three have value. Only one is right for what you're looking for right now.
Where Cohli sits, specifically
We are firmly in the cohort category. We run a few cohorts a year, usually four to six weeks each, in different countries. Each cohort is a defined start and end. The eight to twelve families who come are together for the full duration. We don't operate continuous-occupancy properties.
This is a deliberate choice. We've seen what makes the cohort experience work, and the temporariness is part of it. The fact that everyone arrives the same day and leaves the same day creates a pressure cooker for connection. Kids form bonds that they couldn't form across a continuous-occupancy hub. Adults have the kind of conversations that happen when you know you'll never have these specific people in this specific place again.
We also like that you can come back. Many of our families have come to two or three cohorts now. Each is its own arc, but the alumni community is starting to be a thing of its own.
If you've already tried one of the other categories
Some of our 2026 families came from Boundless Life. Some came from yoga retreats. Some came from regular family travel that stopped feeling enough. They came to Cohli specifically for the depth of the cohort model. Others may try Cohli and decide a nomad village fits them better. That's also fine. We've sent families toward Boundless when their pattern of life made it a better fit.
The most important thing isn't which category you pick. It's choosing the one that matches what you actually need, not what looks most like Instagram. If you'd like to talk through what fits your family, the application form on our cohort pages is short and we read every one. If we're not the right fit, we'll often say so directly.