Paranesti is a municipality in the Rhodope Mountains of northeastern Drama regional unit, Greece. It consists of two municipal units: Paranesti and Nikoforos. The largest villages of the municipal unit Paranesti are Paranésti (the municipal seat, pop. 625), Mesochório (105), Káto Thólos (123), Χágnanto (43), and Prasináda (32). The Natural History Museum of Paranesti is located in Paranesti.

Municipality

The municipality Paranesti was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 2 former municipalities, that became municipal units (constituent communities in brackets): The municipality has an area of 1029.392 km2, the municipal unit 788.394 km2.