diff --git a/lib/app/components/nuxt.js b/lib/app/components/nuxt.js
index 243eec2023..66f15a686d 100644
--- a/lib/app/components/nuxt.js
+++ b/lib/app/components/nuxt.js
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ export default {
   name: 'nuxt',
   props: ['nuxtChildKey'],
   render(h) {
+    if (this.nuxt._redirected) {
+      return h('div', [ 'redirecting.' ])
+    }
     // If there is some error
     if (this.nuxt.err) {
       return h('nuxt-error', {
diff --git a/lib/app/utils.js b/lib/app/utils.js
index f2a707f0f3..297c2df480 100644
--- a/lib/app/utils.js
+++ b/lib/app/utils.js
@@ -132,11 +132,23 @@ export async function setContext(app, context) {
         path = status
         status = 302
       }
-      app.context.next({
-        path: path,
-        query: query,
-        status: status
-      })
+      if (path.charAt(0) === '/' && path.charAt(1) !== '/') {
+        app.context.next({
+          path: path,
+          query: query,
+          status: status
+        })
+      } else {
+        path = formatUrl(path, query)
+        if (process.server) {
+          app.context.res.setHeader('Location', path)
+          app.context.res.statusCode = status
+          app.nuxt._redirected = true
+        }
+        if (process.client) {
+          window.location = path
+        }
+      }
     }
     if (process.server) app.context.beforeNuxtRender = (fn) => context.beforeRenderFns.push(fn)
     if (process.client) app.context.nuxtState = window.__NUXT__
@@ -442,3 +454,60 @@ function escapeString(str) {
 function escapeGroup(group) {
   return group.replace(/([=!:$\/()])/g, '\\$1')
 }
+
+/**
+ * Format given url, append query to url query string
+ *
+ * @param  {string} url
+ * @param  {string} query
+ * @return {string}
+ */
+function formatUrl (url, query) {
+  let protocol
+  let index = url.indexOf('://')
+  if (index !== -1) {
+    protocol = url.substring(0, index)
+    url = url.substring(index + 3)
+  } else if (url.indexOf('//') === 0) {
+    url = url.substring(2)
+  }
+
+  let parts = url.split('/')
+  let result = (protocol ? protocol + '://' : '//') + parts.shift()
+
+  let path = parts.filter(Boolean).join('/')
+  let hash
+  parts = path.split('#')
+  if (parts.length === 2) {
+    path = parts[0]
+    hash = parts[1]
+  }
+
+  result += path ? '/' + path : ''
+
+  if (query && JSON.stringify(query) !== '{}') {
+    result += (url.split('?').length === 2 ? '&' : '?') + formatQuery(query)
+  }
+  result += hash ? '#' + hash : ''
+
+  return result
+}
+
+/**
+ * Transform data object to query string
+ *
+ * @param  {object} query
+ * @return {string}
+ */
+function formatQuery (query) {
+  return Object.keys(query).sort().map(key => {
+    var val = query[key]
+    if (val == null) {
+      return ''
+    }
+    if (Array.isArray(val)) {
+      return val.slice().map(val2 => [key, '=', val2].join('')).join('&')
+    }
+    return key + '=' + val
+  }).filter(Boolean).join('&')
+}
diff --git a/test/basic.csr.test.js b/test/basic.csr.test.js
index da09e77a1b..3c58c37462 100644
--- a/test/basic.csr.test.js
+++ b/test/basic.csr.test.js
@@ -143,6 +143,15 @@ test('/redirect2', async t => {
   t.is(await page.$text('h1'), 'Index page')
 })
 
+test('/redirect3', async t => {
+  // New page for redirecting to external link.
+  const page = await browser.page(url('/'))
+  await page.nuxt.navigate('/redirect3', false)
+  await page.waitForFunction(() => window.location.href === 'https://nuxtjs.org/')
+  page.close()
+  t.pass()
+})
+
 test('/no-ssr', async t => {
   await page.nuxt.navigate('/no-ssr')
 
diff --git a/test/basic.ssr.test.js b/test/basic.ssr.test.js
index e3dc4559b2..0ac2f77736 100755
--- a/test/basic.ssr.test.js
+++ b/test/basic.ssr.test.js
@@ -117,6 +117,19 @@ test('/redirect -> check redirected source', async t => {
   t.true(html.includes('<h1>Index page</h1>'))
 })
 
+test('/redirect -> external link', async t => {
+  const headers = {}
+  const { html } = await nuxt.renderRoute('/redirect3', {
+    res: {
+      setHeader(k, v) {
+        headers[k] = v
+      }
+    }
+  })
+  t.is(headers.Location, 'https://nuxtjs.org')
+  t.true(html.includes('<div>redirecting.</div>'))
+})
+
 test('/special-state -> check window.__NUXT__.test = true', async t => {
   const window = await nuxt.renderAndGetWindow(url('/special-state'))
   t.is(window.document.title, 'Nuxt.js')
diff --git a/test/fixtures/basic/pages/redirect3.vue b/test/fixtures/basic/pages/redirect3.vue
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1f587681d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/basic/pages/redirect3.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+<template>
+  <div>Redirecting...</div>
+</template>
+
+<script>
+export default {
+  fetch({ redirect }) {
+    return redirect('https://nuxtjs.org/')
+  }
+}
+</script>