diff --git a/samcli/lib/providers/sam_api_provider.py b/samcli/lib/providers/sam_api_provider.py
index aec497429b9..2095e618d8e 100644
--- a/samcli/lib/providers/sam_api_provider.py
+++ b/samcli/lib/providers/sam_api_provider.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 """Parses SAM given the template"""
 
 import logging
+import re
 from typing import Dict, List, Optional, Tuple, Union, cast
 
 from samcli.commands.local.lib.swagger.integration_uri import LambdaUri
@@ -16,6 +17,11 @@
 
 LOG = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
+# API Gateway REST API resource path parts are either literals made of these characters, or a path variable
+# ({name} or greedy {name+}) that spans the whole path part. Per "Amazon API Gateway important notes for REST APIs",
+# path segments may only contain alphanumeric characters, underscores, hyphens, periods, commas, colons and braces.
+_REST_API_PATH_PART_PATTERN = re.compile(r"[a-zA-Z0-9._,:-]+|\{[a-zA-Z0-9._,:-]+\+?\}")
+
 
 class SamApiProvider(CfnBaseApiProvider):
     TYPES = [AWS_SERVERLESS_FUNCTION, AWS_SERVERLESS_API, AWS_SERVERLESS_HTTPAPI]
@@ -503,6 +509,9 @@ def _convert_event_route(
         path = cast(str, event_properties.get(SamApiProvider._EVENT_PATH))
         method = cast(str, event_properties.get(SamApiProvider._EVENT_METHOD))
 
+        if event_type == SamApiProvider._EVENT_TYPE_API and isinstance(path, str):
+            SamApiProvider._validate_rest_api_path(path, lambda_logical_id)
+
         # An RESTAPI (HTTPAPI) Event, can have RestApiId (ApiId) property which designates the resource that owns this
         # API. If omitted, the API is owned by Implicit API resource. This could either be a direct resource logical ID
         # or a "Ref" of the logicalID
@@ -550,6 +559,30 @@ def _convert_event_route(
             ),
         )
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def _validate_rest_api_path(path: str, lambda_logical_id: str) -> None:
+        """
+        Validates the Path of an Api event against the resource path rules of API Gateway REST APIs,
+        so that paths which would fail on deployment are not served locally.
+
+        :param str path: Path of the Api event
+        :param str lambda_logical_id: Logical Id of the AWS::Serverless::Function
+        :raises InvalidSamDocumentException: if the path is not a valid API Gateway REST API path
+        """
+        path_parts = [part for part in path.split("/") if part]
+        for index, part in enumerate(path_parts):
+            if not _REST_API_PATH_PART_PATTERN.fullmatch(part):
+                raise InvalidSamDocumentException(
+                    f"Invalid Path '{path}' in Api event of function '{lambda_logical_id}': "
+                    f"Resource's path part '{part}' only allows a-zA-Z0-9._,:- or a path variable "
+                    "with curly braces at the beginning and the end and an optional plus sign before the closing brace."
+                )
+            if part.endswith("+}") and index != len(path_parts) - 1:
+                raise InvalidSamDocumentException(
+                    f"Invalid Path '{path}' in Api event of function '{lambda_logical_id}': "
+                    f"greedy path variable '{part}' must be the last part of the path."
+                )
+
     @staticmethod
     def merge_routes(collector: ApiCollector) -> List[Route]:
         """
diff --git a/tests/unit/commands/local/lib/test_sam_api_provider.py b/tests/unit/commands/local/lib/test_sam_api_provider.py
index 9dbed45a5b7..c5788104c72 100644
--- a/tests/unit/commands/local/lib/test_sam_api_provider.py
+++ b/tests/unit/commands/local/lib/test_sam_api_provider.py
@@ -2256,6 +2256,47 @@ def test_add_authorizer_in_serverless_function(self, authorizer_obj, expected_au
         )
 
 
+class TestSamApiRestApiPathValidation(TestCase):
+    @parameterized.expand(
+        [
+            ("/",),
+            ("/hello",),
+            ("/users/{id}",),
+            ("/{proxy+}",),
+            ("/files/{name}/data.json",),
+            ("/items/v1:batch-get",),
+            ("/items/a,b",),
+            ("/api/{version}/under_score/{proxy+}",),
+            ("/trailing/slash/",),
+        ]
+    )
+    def test_valid_rest_api_path(self, path):
+        _, route = SamApiProvider._convert_event_route("", "MyFunction", {"Path": path, "Method": "get"}, Route.API)
+
+        self.assertEqual(route.path, path)
+
+    @parameterized.expand(
+        [
+            ("/api/map/{z}/{x}/{y}.png", "path part '{y}.png'"),
+            ("/users/id-{id}", "path part 'id-{id}'"),
+            ("/users/{first}{last}", "path part '{first}{last}'"),
+            ("/hello world", "path part 'hello world'"),
+            ("/{}", "path part '{}'"),
+            ("/{proxy+}/items", "greedy path variable '{proxy\\+}' must be the last part"),
+        ]
+    )
+    def test_invalid_rest_api_path_raises(self, path, expected_message):
+        with self.assertRaisesRegex(InvalidSamDocumentException, expected_message):
+            SamApiProvider._convert_event_route("", "MyFunction", {"Path": path, "Method": "get"}, Route.API)
+
+    def test_http_api_path_is_not_validated(self):
+        _, route = SamApiProvider._convert_event_route(
+            "", "MyFunction", {"Path": "/api/map/{y}.png", "Method": "get"}, Route.HTTP
+        )
+
+        self.assertEqual(route.path, "/api/map/{y}.png")
+
+
 def make_swagger(routes, binary_media_types=None):
     """
     Given a list of API configurations named tuples, returns a Swagger document