Reviews of Hotel Villas de la Selva

The view of the ocean and surrounding landscape was amazing. We really enjoyed our outdoor kitchen and hammock when making breakfast in the mornings. The wildlife in the area was incredible. From our balcony, we saw macaws, toucans, pelicans, monkeys, agoutis and a racoon. William was very helpful and informative, especially regarding animals. The apartment was very centrally located with close proximity to bars, restaurants and shops.

The US$25 laundry fee which we thought was very excessive.

The sea views and the balcony. Loved watching the animals. Saimon was incredibly helpful and went out of his way to let us know when the sloths were visible. The beach was amazing.

Kitchens were smaller than expected. We only found expensive supermarket

The property was on a hill with beautiful scenery! Saimon, the guy helping us, went above and beyond to make our stay amazing! He incredibly helpful, accommodating, and kind! He alone deserves 1000 stars!

Breakfast on property?

Animals around the property William was more than helpful and really accomodating to make our stay wonderful

The bathroom door was jammed and we had to use tools to open the doors everytime. The rooms could use an upgrade

Jungle view room had a gorgeous view. Saw lots of wildlife (e.g sloth, agouti, white faced capuchin monkey). Caught an early bus over and William was very kind and let us check in early.

The road to the beach (200m) is a steep descent with no pavement, so not ideal if you have impaired mobility / have a pushchair.

It was just great for our stay. Walking distance to the lovely, quiet end of the beach and to the National Park and plenty of cafes and restaurants nearby. The staff are lovely and there are sloths and monkeys right there in the trees on the property! Wouldn’t miss Manuel Antonio, we were worried it would be too touristy but it was really just great.

WiFi wasn’t good but we were in the furthest room away.

We absolutely loved Villas de la Selva! The location is fantastic with stunning views. We saw so much wildlife on the property: agouti with baby, many capuchin monkeys, hummingbirds, parrots, lizards, and the highlight an anteater in the mango tree having a dinner of termites. The staff are so helpful, especially Saimon who picked mangoes for us, booked restaurants and tours - even got us a discount for paying cash. The pool is a nice size with gorgeous views. It is walkable to La Espadilla beach, though part of it is along a busy road.

On occasion it would’ve been nice to take a warm shower. There’s no hot water although most times it’s so hot you don’t need it. The kitchen is just a microwave, toaster oven and coffee maker. The rooms are functional and comfortable but modest size and basic.

The wildlife around the property was definitely the highlight

Our room was right by the road and quite noisy.

Perfect location in the middle of nature away from the main road but walking distance to restaurants, supermarkets, beach and the park although the roads are quite steep. We had loads of animals at our doorstep: monkeys, sloth, iguanas, macaws, toucans, pelicans, deers, agouti, racoons, loads of birds... Better than all our tours. We stayed hours relaxing in the hammock or the almost private swimming pool watching wildlife with the view on the ocean. It was amazing. The accommodation itself is not the largest and is relatively basic with enough to cook. We had some ants coming in as well as other insects. Internet was not very stable inside.

It’s basic accommodation but very good for that level of service. The location is excellent and the local wildlife amazing and prolific. The receptionist , William was a helpful and knowledgeable host.

The room was very small to accommodate 3 people …the toilet was super small but overall it was a clean room …the view was stunning from the balcony !it was hard to spot the place from the road

If I could give Villas de la Selva a greater score than 10 I would! Firstly the staff William and Saimon are an absolute credit to this place, they can't do enough for you. We had amazing excursions and dive trips organised through these guys. Taxis arranged for us. They called for us everytime wildlife came to the villas and shared their knowledge with us day or night it was fantastic these guys love wildlife! We miss our chats and left having made two new friends! There is far more wildlife at the villas than in the local national park we were visited by Capuchin monkeys, squirrel monkeys and aguti daily, Sloths scarlet macaws, deer etc etc... The apartment had everything you could need if you wanted to self cater and our apartment had a lovely grassed garden which leads me to the view.... Omg the view of the rainforest and ocean has to be the best from any accomodation in Manuel Antonio. (we could see whales from our room). We went to a bar just up from us (El Avion) and it was packed at sunset with people wanting to experience the view and we thought smugly that we had a better view than that every night! The pool was lovely and clean and mostly just us or maybe another couple in it at a time. We have been to many places around the world but if you're into wildlife and views and incredible staff Villas de la Selva is hard to beat!

Nothing, but if you have mobility issues there are quite a few stairs down and up to the accommodations. If you can manage some stairs only ask for the higher villas.

Great location, great wildlife (monkies, iguanas, small mammals, sloths, birds) all outside the villa, the pool area was really nice, the views from the villa were spectacular and the staff and William the manager were super helpful, attentive and very friendly! Only a 10 minute walk to the beach although up / down a very steep hill just to be mindful of if booking. Would highly recommend.

The room could use a little TLC with wear and tear on fabrics / furnishings.

Loved that it was air conditioned. Great pool. Okay walk going down to the beach. A couple of nice restaurants within walking distance. Very close to the bus stop. Kitchen facilities in the room along with plates, glasses etc. loved the balcony looking toward the ocean.

A bit of mildew smell in the room. Of course not the hotels fault, but a killer walk uphill from the beach. That’s when we started using the bus more.

Villas de la Selva were a wonderful base for our family- 3 kids, parents and grandparents, in Manuel Antonio. The rooms are comfortable with little kitchenettes and spacious balconies with the most wonderful view of the ocean and abundant local wildlife. It was amazing to relax on the balcony and watch scarlet macaws and many other birds fly by, along with daily visits from cheeky monkeys and kinkajous. The staff were all really friendly and helpful, especially William, who was passionate about wildlife, and would happily show us the sloth who lived in the trees around the hotel, which was such a special experience. We all enjoyed the pool and the short walk to the beautiful beach, there were also some fantastic restaurants a short walk away, and the national park is easily accessible.

Everything was great

The location was great - within walking distance of good restaurants and easy to get to Manuel Antonio park. Great view of the ocean. Saimon was very accommodating.

Internet was very spotty and very slow.

The view was stunning. The villa was close to many things. There were many animals to watch.

The views are amazing. Quiet location

Shoutout to Simon - an absolute legend, really went above and beyond to help us get to know the local area and recommendations and helped us have the best stay. Wouldn't have been the same without him. The rest of the hotel was really nice, and the views were phenomenal.

The decoration was a bit dated but to be honest, for the price we paid we were really happy with this. Walk back from the beach is tougher than I thought it would be.

Great location, only 10 minutes walk to the beach and a couple of good restaurants walking distance. The view is beautiful and the pool is clean. The hosts were excellent and William in particular puts a lot of effort into making sure the guests see as many animals as possible - we fed two types of monkeys and saw a sloth really up close thanks to him.

The balcony view were absolutely stunning! We also saw so many animals and birds from the balcony. Like being in an open zoo! Owner extremely friendly and helpful. Nice pool and sunny/shaded areas to sit.

Our room was quite small (standard double) and furnishing/bathroom/kitchen area quite basic and dated. May be best to get a larger room if staying for few days or more.

The view!

No washcloths. The path to the beach is not there anymore,which is deceiving.