On our Costa Rica trip, we stayed there for a single night, which seemed enough to get a good, first impression.

We happened to be the only guests at the lodge end of November, but almost all facilities were open - including the pool (well, not the swim-in bar) as well as the restaurant - which was actually great.

Main reason to stay here was a boat trip within Cano Negro and after we arrived, we arranged such a 3hours+ boat trip the next morning through the lodge.
This trip was EXCELLENT with a great guide and we saw a lot of birds, caymans, a sloth and a few turtles.

The room was nice and service was great. On the downside, Cano Negro is really quite off the beaten path and we had some issues to get to Bijagua (there are better places to get lost than the Costa Rica - Nicaragua border if you do not have a GPS nor a good road map and do no speak any Spanish..).

Overall, I'd recommend Cano Necgo and the Natural Lodge Cano Negro, without hesitation.

We stayed at Natural Lodge Caño Negro, just west of the town of Los Chiles and about a mile from the Caño Negro dock on Río Frío. The lodge is located on beautifully landscaped grounds; groupings of single-story “bungalows” offer 2 double beds, air-conditioning, and spacious bathrooms (but no television in the rooms). The bathrooms also had lots of shelves for storing various things (e.g., our binoculars and cameras). Ours appeared to have been relatively recently constructed, in the group the furthest from the dining room. The restaurant was spacious, with lots of air moving throughout. The food was simple, fresh, and delicious—and plentiful!

One of our first challenges at the Lodge was to figure out how to work the air conditioning. We found a remote control that matched the name of the AC unit, out of reach high on the bedroom wall. But after repeated clicking of various buttons, nothing seemed to be happening. My husband eventually stumbled on the fact you had to leave the key card in the slot by the door inside the room. You then used the remote control to turn on the unit and to set the temperature you wanted in the room. Perhaps these units are standard fare abroad. But even so, a little piece of paper explaining how it worked would have been helpful and would have saved us 15 minutes of fumbling around.

NOTE: Not surprisingly, the temperatures were reported by the unit in Centigrade. So it was useful to know that 20 o C was about 68o F and that 30 o C was about 85 o F. If you wanted to lock your room when you left, you had to remove your key card from the slot, which turned off the AC. The unit was powerful and quickly cooled down the room, so we didn’t mind this energy-saving device.

Several of the rooms had a full-length mirror propped up—not attached—against a wall just outside the bathroom. It seemed an odd arrangement and potentially dangerous if one arose and headed to the bathroom in the dark.

The pool was lovely and had a swim-up bar--not something we partook in, but a number of others from other groups did. Coupled with nice vegetation around the pool, it all looked very inviting.

You can read more about the area on our trip report: http://costarica201102.wordpress.com/

We stayed there on a 2 days / 1 night package - well organized - nice room - quiet garden with pool - good food - very interesting boat tour on Rio Frio river and lagunas. To be recommended to birdwatchers

We just returned from Costa Rica about a week ago (mid Feb). What an amazing trip. Our stay at Cano Negro Natural Lodge was one of the highlights. We had a great guide on the lagoon tour and learned so much about the wetlands habitat - great pictures too. The lodge is as good as it looks in these pictures - crisp and clean, comfortable rooms. The staff was friendly and helpful. The buffet food was excellent - we did not try the a la carte menu. The gardens are just lovely. Yes, we will return to Cano Negro.