diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/router.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/router.ts
index a0d9f8b39a..84be97eb2c 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/router.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/app/composables/router.ts
@@ -148,8 +148,9 @@ export const navigateTo = (to: RouteLocationRaw | undefined | null, options?: Na
 
   const router = useRouter()
 
+  const nuxtApp = useNuxtApp()
+
   if (process.server) {
-    const nuxtApp = useNuxtApp()
     if (nuxtApp.ssrContext) {
       const fullPath = typeof to === 'string' || isExternal ? toPath : router.resolve(to).fullPath || '/'
       const location = isExternal ? toPath : joinURL(useRuntimeConfig().app.baseURL, fullPath)
@@ -183,6 +184,16 @@ export const navigateTo = (to: RouteLocationRaw | undefined | null, options?: Na
     } else {
       location.href = toPath
     }
+    // Within in a Nuxt route middleware handler
+    if (inMiddleware) {
+      // Abort navigation when app is hydrated
+      if (!nuxtApp.isHydrating) {
+        return false
+      }
+      // When app is hydrating (i.e. on page load), we don't want to abort navigation as
+      // it would lead to a 404 error / page that's blinking before location changes.
+      return new Promise(() => {})
+    }
     return Promise.resolve()
   }
 
diff --git a/test/bundle.test.ts b/test/bundle.test.ts
index 0fe5069ce2..c533359d13 100644
--- a/test/bundle.test.ts
+++ b/test/bundle.test.ts
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ describe.skipIf(process.env.SKIP_BUNDLE_SIZE === 'true' || process.env.ECOSYSTEM
 
   it('default server bundle size', async () => {
     stats.server = await analyzeSizes(['**/*.mjs', '!node_modules'], serverDir)
-    expect(roundToKilobytes(stats.server.totalBytes)).toMatchInlineSnapshot('"61.9k"')
+    expect(roundToKilobytes(stats.server.totalBytes)).toMatchInlineSnapshot('"62.0k"')
 
     const modules = await analyzeSizes('node_modules/**/*', serverDir)
     expect(roundToKilobytes(modules.totalBytes)).toMatchInlineSnapshot('"2295k"')