Peshtera (Bulgarian: Пещера [ˈpɛʃtɛrɐ], sometimes transliterated as Peštera) is a town in the Rhodope Mountains, southern Bulgaria.

At about 5 km to the south, along the road to Batak, is one of the most visited caves in Bulgaria — Snezhanka.

The Thracian tribe of the Bessi inhabited the area in Antiquity and the settlement in the Peshtera Valley emerged in the fourth century BC.

The earliest piece of writing documenting the town's name dates from 1479, when Peshtera was part of the fief of a certain Mustafa in the Ottoman Empire.

During the Bulgarian National Revival, many churches, bridges, fountains, schools and houses were built.

The first secular school in Peshtera was opened in 1848, while the Nadezhda ('hope') community centre emerged in 1873.