We stayed at the lodge overnight recently. The stay certainly exceeded our expectations. With a nightly rate of ~$125 for an upper level room, you will get spectacular views of the valley and amazing sounds of the Coqui frogs as well as birds you havent heard before.
The personal touch by Mathew and his assistant (?) was great, especially the morning breakfast of fresh fruit,fresh juice scrambled eggs, bread and hashbrowns.
Its great if you are looking for a peaceful stay in a clean place. No fancy hot tubs or jacuzzi, posh bars (there is a small bar), casinos etc, but just a small personal place that you can rest at the end of the day and enjoy a beautiful view from your room.
The only little problem is that there is no access to the Caribbean national forest (La Mina falls, El Yunque trail, Mt.Britton trail etc) from the south side as far as I know. There is a trail that goes through two waterfalls and starts from the lodge. The place is very scenic but on the south side - we had to drive up north to get into the forest because Rt.191 doesnt go through the forest.

This was my favorite place in all of Puerto Rico! When you arrive, the road is beside the back of the lodge and it doesn't look like much, but as soon as you enter you see that the entire lodge is very open and airy. The middle floor has the dining room, honor bar, and tables, chairs and hammocks for all to use. It looks onto a spectacular view of the mountain, rainforest, and two waterfalls which are in short walking distance from the lodge. The rooms all have a sliding glass wall that faces the mountain, yet it is still very private. We stayed in Room 5 on the third floor in the corner which was probably the most secluded room because no one was on either side of us, and the open area was below us. I felt very peaceful there. The rooms are simply furnished and very clean. There is no A/C, but you don't need it and you do have a ceiling fan. Unlike many places in Puerto Rico, Casa Cubuy recycles almost everything. There is a rooftop deck with amazing views onto the mountain, and the trail down to the waterfall is surrounded by beautiful flowering foliage.

You must make a reservation for dinner by early afternoon if you are going to eat there - this is not a regular restaurant. There were some people there that did not understand this and were upset that when they arrived as dinner was being finished they couldn't order dinner. They didn't take the time to see that the honor bar area had some frozen meals, snacks and a microwave and there is no reason for anyone to go hungry. I had not stayed in a place before with an 'honor bar', but found it a great idea. You recieve an index card with your room number on it which goes into a rack in the bar. When you get something - snacks, drinks, etc, you just write it on your card, and they add up the charges when you check out. You can use the refrigerator to store your own items as well. Breakfast is juice, a plate of fruit, some bread, and sometimes an egg/potato dish.

We slept each night with the glass doors open to the sounds of the mountain - waterfalls, coquis, birds, wind through the trees. I only wish I had known before how peaceful this would be - I would have booked a much longer stay there.

If you're looking for a beautiful, off the beaten path, laid back place to stay for a rainforest getaway in Puerto Rico, come here!

I stayed at Sierra Palms Guesthouse, which is Casa Cubuy Ecolodge's other property up the road. To see pictures of this, you have to go to [----]and from there, click on Lodging. Sierra Palms is a guesthouse, not a hotel. There is a well-equipped kitchen, 3 bedrooms that rent for $100/night each, a balcony with dinette sets and 2 hammocks, also a living room with a futon, a DVD player, and a few DVDs. This place is brand new. The bathroom is stylishly done with nice smelling bath products and seemingly endless hot water. The whole place is cozy, tastefully decorated with framed Puerto Rican folk art. The balcony is truly breathtaking, looking over an immense rainforest valley, and is beautiful at all times of day. Rooms 2 and 3 have direct access to the balcony, so I would ask for those again (Room 3 is the best!)

It was perfect for us but maybe not for everyone. You should know that the walls are kind of thin, the doors make a deal of noise when opening, and one of our fellow guests' keys didn't work. Also, whenever anyone runs the water, the lights surge for a minute. I think this is because of something to make the place ecofriendly?Also, the bed made noise whenever I moved because there was plastic covering the brand new mattress under the sheets, in addition to a waterproof cover.

I did see a lot of Casa Cubuy and was told by the owner that I could enjoy both places (guesthouse and mainhouse) as much as I wanted. I ate dinner there ($18.50 per person) which is a family style affair where you meet your fellow travelers. I didn't think I would like that part as much as I did-- I loved meeting and talking to other people who found their way to Cubuy as well! The food is also first rate comida criolla (delicious Puerto Rican cuisine). The whole place is very laid back. There are lots of board games to play as well as chess. A very nice feature of Casa Cubuy is its Honor Bar. You are free to take what you want from it as long as you put it on your tab. The Honor Bar is great if you just feel like a beer in the afternoon, but don't want to drive anywhere to get it. You can also get a wide variety of snacks and other food at pretty decent prices.

My favorite thing about Casa Cubuy and Sierra Palms were the trails that led down to the nearby river. You hike down the mountain and are met with a series of spectacular waterfalls, cascades, clear mountain pools. You'll feel like king of the mountain! It was really easy to spend large parts of the day in the "river", climbing rocks, relaxing in mountain pools, and exploring. Matthew, the owner, says that it's easy to hike over the river and down the river to see some Taino hieroglyphs, but we never figured this out. Ask him to draw you a map.

My wife (TA) and I stayed at Casa Cubuy for 4 days. The hotel is nestled high up, overhanging the mountains of the rain forest and has amazing views. The greatest asset to this place is that it is located on the south side of El Yunque, which means it is quieter and less busy. (we went to the north side for half a day and it was quite a different story).

LOCATION:
The drive to the lodge is an adventure itself. The road is narrow and twisty as you climb up the mountain and probably could be a challenge at night, but there is little traffic so you can take your time and enjoy the view as you drive.

ROOMS:
The rooms were clean and simple. There is no AC, but there are ceiling fans and besides it cools down nicely in the evenings making it comfortable to sleep. ( as you are serenaded by thousands of Coqui frogs) Best of all, no TV or telephone.

FOOD:
We ate all of our meals at the hotel. We were concerned that we might have to find another place to eat if not enough people signed up for dinner, but every night all the guests were there for dinner. The food was very good, some of the best local dishes we had on the island, especially breakfast which always started off with a large bowl of fresh fruit. The meals are served family style at one big table which allows you to meet the other guests, trade touring & hiking tips, previous travels and just general socializing. Honour Bar - very reasonable compared to some places - $2.50 a beer.

ACTIVITIES:
There is one trail that leads down from the lodge to the waterfalls, where you can swim in the pools. The trail is very easy to access and not very long. The trail does continue on to a second waterfalls as well. We were told the trail continued on from there but the trail was not well marked and we couldn't find where it continued on. The more regimented and marked trails are found on the north side of the forest.

OVERALL:
We were impressed. We were a little concerned after reading previous reviews, but we were pleasently surprised. We found the staff friendly and Matthew, the owner, was helpful in suggesting driving routes and hiking trails. This is not an All-Inclusive Beach Resort, it is an eco-lodge where you are not catered to all day long and thankfully and hopefully it will stay this way.

***One word of warning - After reading the website we thought the tours mentioned in the packages were included in the price - they are not. If you want to go on any of these tours it is an extra fee.***