A parking assist apparatus comprising: a position detection unit configured to detect a current position of a vehicle; a sensor provided on the vehicle, the sensor being configured to detect a periphery of the vehicle; a parking area detection unit configured to detect a parking area in which the vehicle can be parked based on information of the sensor; and a parking path computing unit configured to calculate a path along which the vehicle is to be moved from the current position to the parking area based on the parking area detected by the parking area detection unit and a current position of the vehicle, an obstacle detection unit configured to detect obstacles at a side of the vehicle according to information from a sonar as the sensor; the parking assist apparatus being characterized in that it further comprises: a virtual obstacle setting unit configured to set a virtual obstacle at a position adjacent to a parking lot, which is a lot in the parking area; a virtual obstacle moving unit configured to move the virtual obstacle in parallel in a passing direction of the vehicle by a movement amount corresponding to a separation distance between the parking lot and the vehicle when the vehicle is passing through the parking lot, wherein the parking path computing unit is configured to calculate a parking path along which the vehicle is to move from a current position to be parked in the parking lot, based on a current position of the vehicle and each position of an obstacle detected by the sonar, the virtual obstacle, and the parking lot. a position detection unit configured to detect a current position of a vehicle; a sensor provided on the vehicle, the sensor being configured to detect a periphery of the vehicle; a parking area detection unit configured to detect a parking area in which the vehicle can be parked based on information of the sensor; and a parking path computing unit configured to calculate a path along which the vehicle is to be moved from the current position to the parking area based on the parking area detected by the parking area detection unit and a current position of the vehicle, an obstacle detection unit configured to detect obstacles at a side of the vehicle according to information from a sonar as the sensor; the parking assist apparatus being characterized in that it further comprises: a virtual obstacle setting unit configured to set a virtual obstacle at a position adjacent to a parking lot, which is a lot in the parking area; a virtual obstacle moving unit configured to move the virtual obstacle in parallel in a passing direction of the vehicle by a movement amount corresponding to a separation distance between the parking lot and the vehicle when the vehicle is passing through the parking lot, wherein the parking path computing unit is configured to calculate a parking path along which the vehicle is to move from a current position to be parked in the parking lot, based on a current position of the vehicle and each position of an obstacle detected by the sonar, the virtual obstacle, and the parking lot. a virtual obstacle setting unit configured to set a virtual obstacle at a position adjacent to a parking lot, which is a lot in the parking area; a virtual obstacle moving unit configured to move the virtual obstacle in parallel in a passing direction of the vehicle by a movement amount corresponding to a separation distance between the parking lot and the vehicle when the vehicle is passing through the parking lot, wherein the parking path computing unit is configured to calculate a parking path along which the vehicle is to move from a current position to be parked in the parking lot, based on a current position of the vehicle and each position of an obstacle detected by the sonar, the virtual obstacle, and the parking lot.