It is currently the largest natural lake in Costa Rica at 1.98-square-kilometre (0.76 sq mi).

[3] It is a crater lake of Maar type with a heart-like ovoid shape and a 1 km diameter.

The lake is used for tourism, subsistence fishing, hydropower electricity generation and as a conservation area.

It is regarded as a sacred place by the local Maleku people.

[3] On 4 September 1971, during an aerial survey by the National Geographic Institute of Costa Rica, what looks like a UFO was photographed over Lake Cote (see photo).