According to the most accepted explanation, it was named after a local indigenous chief, and refers to the "Maracayo" (Felis mitis), a small tiger.

Gómez saw Maracay as a suitable place to make his residence during his rule, and ordered the construction of an Arc of Triumph, a bull plaza (a near replica of the one in Seville, Spain), an opera house, a zoo, and, most notably, the Hotel Jardín (Garden Hotel), a majestic, tourist attraction with very large gardens.

The mountains on the north side of Maracay, that separate it from the coast, make up the Henri Pittier National Park, named after the Swiss naturalist that studied them.

The other, beginning at the North-Western part of the city known as Urbanización El Limón, goes to Ocumare de la Costa and the beaches of Cata and Catica.

Other military facilities include the Fourth Armored Division of the Army and the Venezuelan Paratroopers main base and training center.

Even though it is an industrial center, the surroundings of Maracay live of an intensive agriculture, where sugarcane, tobacco, coffee, and cocoa stand out as the main products.

The main museums are: Maracay has good transportation facilities and infrastructure that effectively connects it to the rest of the country, it is linked to most other important localities by the Autopista Regional del Centro (Central Regional Highway), it also has good access to the only, small railway system in the country.