[3] Ciego de Ávila lies on the Carretera Central highway and on a major railroad.

Its port, Júcaro, lies 24 km (15 mi) south-southwest on the coast of the Gulf of Ana Maria of the Caribbean Sea, in the adjacent municipality of Venezuela.

By 1945, the municipality was divided into the barrios of Angel Castillo, Ceballos, Guanales, Jagüeyal, Jicotea, José Miguel Gómez, Júcaro, La Ceiba, Majagua, Norte, San Nicolás and Sur.

After the new political and administrative division of Cuba in 1976, it was divided into four municipalities (Majagua, Ciego de Ávila, Baragua, and Venezuela).

Ciego de Ávila gained importance when the Spanish army built a fortified military line, known as Trocha de Júcaro a Morón, to impede the pass of insurrectionist forces to the western part of the island during the 1st War of Independence (1868–1878).