The name of the region comes from the common Slavic word Church Slavonic: пещера, romanized: peštera, meaning "cave".

In the speech of people native to the area, the original feminine gender of the word is preserved despite the loss of the -a ending (nominative Pešter, genitive and locative Pešteri), but in standard Serbian the gender is masculine (nominative Pešter, genitive Peštera, locative Pešteru).

[3] The plateau is actually a large field (Peštersko polje) surrounded by the mountains of Jadovnik (1734 m), Zlatar (1627 m), Ozren (1693 m), Giljeva (1617 m), Javor (1519 m), Golija (1833 m), Žilindar (1616 m), Hum (1756 m), Ninaja (1462 m) and Jarut (1428 m).

[4] This lake gradually drained through karst ruptures, leaving marshy remnants in the lowest parts, around the flow of the sinking river Boroštica.

Pešter is famous for its dairy products, especially the "Sjenica cheese" (Sjenički sir), as well as lamb and pršut (or prosciutto).

[8] Pešter is home to a number of endangered plant species, such as Fumana bonapartei, Halacsya sendtneri, and Orchis tridentata.