The wall has a perimeter of 2,516 metres, 2,500 battlements, 87 cubes or towers and 9 gates. It covers an area of 33 hectares and forms a rectangle oriented east-west. Its walls are 3 metres thick and 12 metres high. The layout took advantage of the unevenness of the terrain and neither slopes nor buttresses were built.
There is a blinded gateway in the area of the Alcazar (no longer standing). There is also a blinded gateway in the walled area corresponding to the Dávila palace, the so-called Portillo del Obispo (Bishop's Gateway), which linked the cathedral with the neighbourhood where the clerics lived and was closed in 1518 due to a series of scandals and disturbances.
Of the nine gates mentioned, the two most notable for their defences are those of the Alcázar and San Vicente. Both are located on the eastern wall, on flat ground, and because it is the most easily accessible area and therefore most exposed to attack, it is the best fortified of the enclosure.
For its construction, materials from the Roman necropolis, civil constructions and the old Roman and Visigothic walls were reused. The stone used is grey and black granite, depending on its origin. Brick, mortar and lime were also used.
Although a wall or fence has existed since the Roman conquest of the city, the current wall dates from the second half of the 12th century. This chronology is based on its morphology and different documentation.
The Roman wall must have had a smaller perimeter, this is based on the fact that the walls of León had a perimeter of 1700 m and that city was more important than Ávila.
In any case, Rodríguez Almeida demonstrated, among other things, the existence of two original sectors of the primitive Roman wall, embedded in the body of the wall built in the Middle Ages at the Arch of San Vicente.