It is home to the longest cable car ride in the world, as well as activities like running, biking, rock climbing, camping, and zip-lining.

El Galipán was home to some of the most beautiful, unique flowers in the country, and every December Pacheco would make the long trip down the mountain into the city to sell his harvest in the Plaza Bolivar in Caracas.

A hotel and a cable car, which climbs to the highest point at 2,135 meters (7,005 ft) above sea level and drops down the other side to the city of Macuto, were opened in 1956.

Presents anthropogenic savannas where predominate species like melao capim (Melinis minutiflora), the bambusillo (Arthrostylidium venezuelae), yellow tara (Oyedaea verbesinoides) and incense (Espeletia neriifolia).

In the upper regions of the Silla of Caracas and the Pico Naiguatá is a characteristic vegetation of coastal bush subpáramo, consisting of open shrub of 1–3 m tall with a herbaceous relatively well developed, being the most characteristic species incense or frailejón tree (Libanothamnus nerufolius), Spanish flag (Castilleja fissifolia) and false frailejón (Liabum megacephalum).

El Ávila can be classified as vulnerable because there is a risk that the diverse threats it faces will increasingly erode its biodiversity unless in the near future constant monitoring occurs.

However, the concentration of resources and vigilance in those areas closest to the city has resulted in more problems in the more isolated northern slope and eastern sector of El Ávila.

El Ávila National Park is located along the central stretch of the Cordillera de la Costa, at 10° 32' latitude north and between 66° 12' and 67° 01' longitude west (see map).

It contains over 81,800 hectares (202,000 acres), encompassing a wide variety of ecosystems that vary along the altitude gradient from 120 to 2,765 meters (394 to 9,072 ft) above sea level at Naiguatá peak.

Due to the constant condensation by the cooling of the air masses and the decrease of atmospheric pressure, cloud forest dominates between 1,500 and 2,200 meters (4,900 and 7,200 ft) above sea level.

The annual average rainfall fluctuates between 600 and 1,400 millimeters (24 and 55 in) and is influenced by orography, which explains why rain is more abundant on the northern slope where the mountain faces the trade winds.