diff --git a/README.rst b/README.rst
index 630f468..2054744 100644
--- a/README.rst
+++ b/README.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
 pyregion
 ========
 
+DEPRECATION note
+----------------
+pyregion is deprecated in favor of astropy regions (https://astropy-regions.readthedocs.io/en/stable/), as pyregion is no longer maintained.
+
+Historic Documentation
+----------------------
 pyregion is a python module to parse ds9 region files.
 It also supports ciao region files.
 
diff --git a/docs/index.rst b/docs/index.rst
index 4e167f4..a074664 100644
--- a/docs/index.rst
+++ b/docs/index.rst
@@ -5,14 +5,16 @@ pyregion
 :Release: |version|
 :Date: |today|
 
-pyregion is a python module to parse ds9 region files.
-It also supports ciao region files.
 
 .. note::
 
-    See also the in-development ``regions`` package
+    The ``regions`` package
     at https://github.com/astropy/regions
-    a new astronomy package for regions based on Astropy.
+    supercedes pyregion.
+    The pyregion package is deprecated and unmaintained.
+
+pyregion is a python module to parse ds9 region files.
+It also supports ciao region files.
 
 
 +----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
diff --git a/pyregion/core.py b/pyregion/core.py
index 5890018..aa9132a 100644
--- a/pyregion/core.py
+++ b/pyregion/core.py
@@ -3,8 +3,12 @@
 from .ds9_region_parser import RegionParser
 from .wcs_converter import check_wcs as _check_wcs
 
+from warnings import DeprecationWarning, warn
+
 _builtin_open = open
 
+warn("The pyregion package is deprecated.  Please switch to astropy regions.", DeprecationWarning)
+
 
 class ShapeList(list):
     """A list of `~pyregion.Shape` objects.