The cable car from Maripérez climbs in two long stages from the city floor at 1,000 metres to the summit of the Ávila at 2,100 metres, in about fifteen minutes. The system was built in 1956 under the Pérez Jiménez government as a transport link to the Hotel Humboldt at the top; closed for nearly two decades after a fire in the 1970s, it was finally reopened in 1999 and has run more or less continuously since.
The ride itself — drifting up over the cloud forest with the city receding below — is the main attraction. Bring a sweater: the temperature drops 8–10°C between the base station and the summit. From the top, on a clear day, you see the Caribbean to the north and the whole basin of Caracas to the south.