We (3 married couples) are heading to Cinque Terre in early October and I was wondering which would be the best village to stay in. We are planning on staying 4 nights, Thanks for any help

If you search here, you will find this question answered many times.

We stayed at Santa Margherita Liqure for three nights, so I can't help you with the CT towns.

There really is no "best" town. See if you can get a copy of Rick Steeves Cinque Terre episode. It will give you an overview of all 5 towns and you may feel an inclination for one. Vernazza is the most popular and has the most rooms to rent and probably restaurants and cafes. All are easily accessible by the local train, by boat, or by hiking the beautiful trails.

This is a pretty good overview: http://www.italylogue.com/cinque-terre

If you want peace and quiet, go for Riomaggiore/Corniglia/Manarola. Monterosso has the only good beach and Vernazza is pretty but busy.

We were there this past October, and the foot traffic was much lighter than in the high season from what i hear. We had a car which worked well for us as we stayed in Levanto. We were able to park our car right outside our hotel (Hotel Nazionale) which was nice. After we arrived, we hiked to Monterosso, which was a bit of a hike, but it was beautiful. Had some refreshments and took the train back. The next morning we took the train to Riomaggiore and hiked back to Monterosso and then took the train back to Levanto after some gelato.
debbie

We stayed in Manarola and just loved it. Vernazza was pretty but VERY busy when we were there.