Never been to Costa Rica, and trying to find out what the differences are between the two. We are going the first week in December. I'd really like to save the money and stay at Villas Nicolas, but are we going to miss out on something at BVV? We're planning on staying 3 nights at Silencio (assuming it's available), followed by 4 nights in MA. Or should we do 4 in Arenal, and 3 in MA? There are 4 of us traveling together. We'd probably get a type 3 room (each) at Villas Nicolas, or a 2 br villa at BVV. Thanks in advance for your advice.

To be honest, I don't know anything about buena vista villas, but my husband and I did stay at Villas Nicolas for 4 nights in room 7 up last summer. We were very happy with our stay. We had an enourmous balcony overlooking the ocean, we were right next door to si como no, where the public bus picks up in order to take you to the national park/beach. The staff at Villas Nicolas were very helpful and friendly. I loved their security guard! He was a hoot! We did not have any monkey's on our balcony or anything that exciting, but we saw plenty of it at the park and loved our view

I didn't respond to your second question:
we did 3 nights in arenal and 4 nights in manuel antonio and were happy with our decision; although, we could have spent 1 more night in both places and been happy. To me, it would depend on what time you will be getting in to the various areas. We got in to Arenal in the late afternoon so we still had time to explore a little bit. We made a bunch of stops on our way to MA so we didn't check in until about 6pm so we didn't really have time to do much but check in and have dinner.

BVV is a bit more upscale and a few more $$. Beautiful hotel with a small beach at the bottom of the steep property.

Villas Nicolas is very sweet & charming, great views, convenient area, I love VN.

They both get great reviews; if it's worth it to you to pay more and have a little private beach, I'd pick BVV.

You can also check out Villa Mot Mot - on the same grounds as BVV - but a bit less expensive. Basically the same kind of building and accommodations (villamotmot.com). We walked by Villa Mot Mot every morning on our way to breakfast, and if I were to go back, I'd try to snag it.

Thanks for all of your replies. I just got in contact with Villa Mot Mot and it looks beautiful, but is actually more money than BVV, based on their season's calendar vs. BVV's.

Oops, sorry about that! I thought it was less expensive for some reason.

I just got back from a 9 day trip and stayed at Villas Nicolas for 4 days (trip report later). I don't know about BV Villas, but Villas Nicolas was very nice. We had a fantastic view and a large space with a full kitchen, which was convenient. The only negatives may be that it's not attached to a restaurant (it really feels more like renting an apartment than a hotel stay -and I am sure that may be a positive to many people), and I personally found the bedding to be a little less *clean* than I prefer. It is a beautiful place though. We ended up spending a lot of time next door at Si Como No, which is very convenient and more of a full service hotel.

PS: In Arenal, we stayed at Montana de Fuego and LOVED it! They have a special where if you stay 3 days, they give you a free massage, and a free activity (like a horseback ride or a zip canopy tour). They were so nice and the grounds were gorgeous. They even have a 1.5 hour beautiful trail into the forest. We preferred Arenal to Manuel Antonio and would have done 5 days in Arenal and 3 in MA, instead of the even split we did. Arenal was def the highlight of our trip.