Avis Luxurious Balinese Inspired Luxury Villa in the heart of Manuel Antonio

Has everything you need for a great vacation. House is very comfortable, beautiful furniture and with great decoration. We got visited by a gang of cute monkeys.

My family of 6 (17yoB, 15yoG, 13yoG, 9yoG) had a wonderful stay. The location is really special up and down some steep roads (4x4 required!) but this is a beautiful home up in the rain forest. Morning coffee out on the patio was my favorite. Some days were limited activity in the forest (probably due to rain) but other days (less rain) were super active with birds and monkeys. Both were great! We had some great pool time and the kitchen was well set up as it was easier (and more affordable) to make it at home! Andrey was very helpful re: access and excursions including remembering my daughter is Celiac when booking an excursion with food!

Loved the location

Amazing, peaceful experience. Loved it. Exactly the remote jungle experience we wanted. Fell asleep at night listening to the sounds of the jungle. My wife and our fours kids will always have fond memories of this property. We stayed a week. A note about the road conditions: we had a Toyota Rush with two wheel drive automatic transmission. It was was fine getting to and from the house. I can see how a 4x4 would be better, but from our experience a 4x4 was not necessary. Great time.

Stayed in Quepos in June 2023. The house was hard to access (VERY hard by American standards), and 4X4 is necessary, but when we arrived… so gorgeous! It was like a Balinese mansion rising from the jungle. The pool was perfect for hot days, and toucans and birds were flitting about the backyard our entire stay. The staff were incredibly helpful as well. Can’t recommend enough!

This is an absolutely wonderful villa, the photos do not do it justice! It was the perfect amount of space to make our holiday relaxing for our family of five. The separation between the primary bedroom and other two is great for families with older kids, while the locks on all the doors with pool access is a thoughtful gesture for those with younger kids. Ours are in the middle and they absolutely LOVED this house and having their own quarters. The high ceilings make it feel very grand and spacious. The housekeeping team take fantastic care of the property and its guests - the towels or laundry mentioned in previous reviews was a non-issue for us thanks to them. Check in and out was a breeze and concierge was available for any of our needs; overall a very hospitable team! The driveway is definitely a challenge but not an issue with the right car. We loved the location in that it was away from the hustle and bustle of the main strip but still only a few minutes away from it when we wanted - same for the beaches. It was amazing being nestled in the forest and visited by the wildlife, including a monkey! Such a lovely stay and experience, would highly recommend!

Pros: - Wonderful customer service! The host and Raimund were so helpful and responded right away to questions/concerns. - Extremely spacious. - They provided cleaners (included in the cost) every other day which was really nice. They also did laundry for us if we left a tip. - The pool area was beautiful. - It is a true “jungle” experience! - Great AC! - Alarm system on home which made us feel extra safe (although it felt very safe anyways) Cons: - The location indicator on the listing is way off. One of the main reasons we booked this house is because we thought it was walking distance to bars and restaurants in Manuel Antonio however, it was not walking distance whatsoever for an average person. We would have never booked this place if we knew the true location. It was in the “middle of nowhere” about 8 minutes from the top of the hill in MA, but it is either straight down or straight up so walking would be so very difficult especially if you are not use to all the heat. - The way the house is built (maybe it’s the Indonesian style?) has a gap to the outdoors between the roof and walls (which they did try to patch with boards and it helped but did not solve 100%) which allowed more than average bugs and critters into the home(small lizards, frogs, and we even had a bat fly in our first night). - the interior is a bit dated, though it’s unique and of high quality furnishings and decor -- Some of kitchen stuff was very poor quality

Location is a big problem. Guy could not take us to the house. I will never stay there again

As the other reviews all stated, you definitely need a 4x4 to navigate the roads getting to the house. Some of the roads are not paved and have been washed out that have very deep pot holes- take full insurance out on your rental car!!! The house itself is very unique, sitting below the driveway landing on the hill with beautiful views of the rain forest. We loved floating in the pool enjoying the natural setting. There are many unusual art pieces, custom furniture, and special additions to the house, but the house is a bit dated, although nothing that would prevent staying here. The kitchen appearance is nice, but the kitchen cooking equipment is well below standards for this type of property (old pans, pots, and limited extras one comes to expect in a VRBO). We did not see monkeys during our week, but we did see toucans, parrots and many butterflies. Inside the house we experienced a scorpion in the bedroom, an iguana, a huge spider and a bat that left droppings over the furniture and counters all week (I guess this is the norm for Costa Rica). The Conceirge, Andres, was awesome and very helpful- at all hours and even coming through for us with last minute plans. We stayed the end of July/beginning of August and it rained every day. Only 2 of the days were a washout where tour plans had to be cancelled, otherwise, the rain was not a deterrent for us. One request for the owner/property management company- why not let the renters use the washer/dryer that is on premise? There is nowhere to hang wet towels, bathing suits, clothes (outside not an option because of the frequent rain)…we found ourselves lacking dry towels all week and clothes that took days to dry out. At the minimum, we would have appreciated being able to throw our wet gear into a dryer. I gave the review 4 stars because of the kitchen & washer/dryer limitations, but otherwise, this is a wonderful house giving my family, a very unique experience. Much appreciated and hope you will have us back one day!

Our family had an incredible stay at Villa Michelina. The property is bigger and more beautiful than the pictures show. It offered privacy within minutes of all the beaches, restaurants and attractions. We also enjoyed cooking in the spacious kitchen. The kids spent hours playing in the pool and looking for wildlife in the backyard. During our stay, we were visited by a family of capuchin monkeys, iguanas, toucans, hummingbirds and many other birds. On our last day, a huge group of squirrel monkeys were in the area and some came onto the back patio with us. Having wildlife so close to us was a highlight of our trip. Mariana, Jorge and the cleaning staff were also amazing and helped us arrange everything we needed, including grocery orders and restaurant recommendations. As others have said, there is a steep driveway but it was part of our adventure! If we return to Manuel Antonio, we will definitely stay at Villa Michelina! Thank you for a wonderful stay!