diff --git a/lib/nuxt.js b/lib/nuxt.js
index 89d89718aa..6415885000 100644
--- a/lib/nuxt.js
+++ b/lib/nuxt.js
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ class Nuxt {
       router: {
         mode: 'history',
         base: '/',
+        userSpecifiedBase: false,
         middleware: [],
         linkActiveClass: 'nuxt-link-active',
         linkExactActiveClass: 'nuxt-link-exact-active',
@@ -62,6 +63,7 @@ class Nuxt {
     // Sanitization
     if (options.loading === true) delete options.loading
     if (options.router && typeof options.router.middleware === 'string') options.router.middleware = [ options.router.middleware ]
+    if (options.router && typeof options.router.base === 'string') options.router.userSpecifiedBase = true
     if (typeof options.transition === 'string') options.transition = { name: options.transition }
     this.options = _.defaultsDeep(options, defaults)
     // Env variables
diff --git a/lib/render.js b/lib/render.js
index 4864a0f4d2..66d7fbf960 100644
--- a/lib/render.js
+++ b/lib/render.js
@@ -94,7 +94,9 @@ export async function renderRoute (url, context = {}) {
   }
   const m = context.meta.inject()
   let HEAD = m.meta.text() + m.title.text() + m.link.text() + m.style.text() + m.script.text() + m.noscript.text()
-  HEAD += `<base href="${self.options.router.base}">`
+  if (self.options.router.userSpecifiedBase) {
+    HEAD += `<base href="${self.options.router.base}">`
+  }
   HEAD += context.renderResourceHints() + context.renderStyles()
   APP += `<script type="text/javascript">window.__NUXT__=${serialize(context.nuxt, { isJSON: true })}</script>`
   APP += context.renderScripts()