The community has taken advantage of the natural setting within the Springfield Plateau of the Ozark Mountains since first established in 1917 as a summer resort destination.

The oak/hickory forests, valleys, creeks, and steep rises that characterize the city's topography have slowly given way to a series of reservoirs, golf courses, and other amenities.

A largely residential city, early settlement was predominantly summer cabins, later giving way to single-family housing of a retirement community developed by Cooper Communities with services and amenities provided by a strong property owners' association (POA).

Residents voted to incorporate in 2006, supplanting the POA with municipal government for most essential services.

The resort began catering to city dwellers with automobiles, and came to include "colonies" of residents from Dallas, Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

[5] Bella Vista became a retirement community in 1965, and, after much contention and a 2006 vote of its property owners, became an incorporated city.

Following its official incorporation on January 1, 2007, the new city government took over the police department, fire department, streets, trash removal and other city functions, while the Property Owners Association (POA) retained control of the many amenities available to members (property owners) and their guests.

As of the census[9] of 2000, there were 16,582 people, 7,818 households, and 6,004 families residing in the community, which at the time was recorded as a census-designated place (CDP).

Bella Vista's Declarations and Protective Covenants[10] is the "rule book" that governs the POA.

They set the direction and long-term objectives for the POA guided by Bella Vista's declarations and protective covenants.

In the center of Bella Vista is the Tanyard Creek Nature Trail[19] below the Lake Windsor dam.

In July 2023, the Bella Vista Property Owners Association approved by a 7-1 vote the construction of 7 new trails.

[20] The Bentonville portion is zoned to the following schools: Also serving the city is a private preschool, Bella Vista Montessori Academy.

The fire department also provides Advanced Life Support paramedic service to the city with six ambulances.

The final segment of Interstate 49 (I-49), which runs from Fort Smith, Arkansas to Kansas City, Missouri, was completed around Bella Vista on October 1, 2021.

Bella Vista Way is a four-lane controlled access divided highway that bisects the city from north to south.

In December 2018, health officials declared the air within a half-mile radius around the property was at unhealthy levels on one occasion.