diff --git a/plugins/cloud-aws/README.md b/plugins/cloud-aws/README.md
index 08957b0ebd5..1f5f53997c8 100644
--- a/plugins/cloud-aws/README.md
+++ b/plugins/cloud-aws/README.md
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ The following settings are supported:
 * `region`: The region where bucket is located. Defaults to US Standard
 * `endpoint`: The endpoint to the S3 API. Defaults to AWS's default S3 endpoint. Note that setting a region overrides the endpoint setting.
 * `protocol`: The protocol to use (`http` or `https`). Defaults to value of `cloud.aws.protocol` or `cloud.aws.s3.protocol`.
-* `base_path`: Specifies the path within bucket to repository data. Defaults to root directory.
+* `base_path`: Specifies the path within bucket to repository data. Defaults to value of `repositories.s3.base_path` or to root directory if not set.
 * `access_key`: The access key to use for authentication. Defaults to value of `cloud.aws.access_key`.
 * `secret_key`: The secret key to use for authentication. Defaults to value of `cloud.aws.secret_key`.
 * `chunk_size`: Big files can be broken down into chunks during snapshotting if needed. The chunk size can be specified in bytes or by using size value notation, i.e. `1g`, `10m`, `5k`. Defaults to `100m`.
diff --git a/plugins/cloud-aws/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/S3Repository.java b/plugins/cloud-aws/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/S3Repository.java
index ecd391956e7..4be35ba1098 100644
--- a/plugins/cloud-aws/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/S3Repository.java
+++ b/plugins/cloud-aws/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/S3Repository.java
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ public class S3Repository extends BlobStoreRepository {
                 bucket, region, endpoint, protocol, chunkSize, serverSideEncryption, bufferSize, maxRetries);
 
         blobStore = new S3BlobStore(settings, s3Service.client(endpoint, protocol, region, repositorySettings.settings().get("access_key"), repositorySettings.settings().get("secret_key"), maxRetries), bucket, region, serverSideEncryption, bufferSize, maxRetries);
-        String basePath = repositorySettings.settings().get("base_path", null);
+        String basePath = repositorySettings.settings().get("base_path", settings.get("repositories.s3.base_path"));
         if (Strings.hasLength(basePath)) {
             BlobPath path = new BlobPath();
             for(String elem : Strings.splitStringToArray(basePath, '/')) {
diff --git a/plugins/cloud-aws/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest.java b/plugins/cloud-aws/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest.java
index 25dd8b96def..23441d5f509 100644
--- a/plugins/cloud-aws/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest.java
+++ b/plugins/cloud-aws/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/repositories/s3/AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest.java
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ abstract public class AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest extends AbstractAwsTest {
                 .put(MockFSDirectoryService.RANDOM_NO_DELETE_OPEN_FILE, false)
                 .put("cloud.enabled", true)
                 .put("plugin.types", CloudAwsPlugin.class.getName())
+                .put("repositories.s3.base_path", basePath)
                 .build();
     }
 
@@ -85,11 +86,17 @@ abstract public class AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest extends AbstractAwsTest {
     @Test @AwaitsFix(bugUrl = "https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch-cloud-aws/issues/211")
     public void testSimpleWorkflow() {
         Client client = client();
+        Settings.Builder settings = Settings.settingsBuilder()
+                .put("chunk_size", randomIntBetween(1000, 10000));
+
+        // We sometime test getting the base_path from node settings using repositories.s3.base_path
+        if (usually()) {
+            settings.put("base_path", basePath);
+        }
+
         logger.info("-->  creating s3 repository with bucket[{}] and path [{}]", internalCluster().getInstance(Settings.class).get("repositories.s3.bucket"), basePath);
         PutRepositoryResponse putRepositoryResponse = client.admin().cluster().preparePutRepository("test-repo")
-                .setType("s3").setSettings(Settings.settingsBuilder()
-                        .put("base_path", basePath)
-                        .put("chunk_size", randomIntBetween(1000, 10000))
+                .setType("s3").setSettings(settings
                         ).get();
         assertThat(putRepositoryResponse.isAcknowledged(), equalTo(true));
 
@@ -342,7 +349,7 @@ abstract public class AbstractS3SnapshotRestoreTest extends AbstractAwsTest {
         PutRepositoryResponse putRepositoryResponse = client.admin().cluster().preparePutRepository("test-repo")
                 .setType("s3").setSettings(Settings.settingsBuilder()
                         .put("base_path", basePath)
-                        ).get();
+                ).get();
         assertThat(putRepositoryResponse.isAcknowledged(), equalTo(true));
 
         logger.info("--> restore non existing snapshot");