diff --git a/packages/core/src/components.d.ts b/packages/core/src/components.d.ts
index 659421386c..c400a6120e 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/components.d.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/components.d.ts
@@ -2604,6 +2604,7 @@ declare global {
       component?: string;
       params?: {[key: string]: any};
       path?: string;
+      redirectTo?: string;
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/core/src/components/route/readme.md b/packages/core/src/components/route/readme.md
index 185af3066f..24fcd82c4e 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/components/route/readme.md
+++ b/packages/core/src/components/route/readme.md
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ string
 string
 
 
+#### redirectTo
+
+string
+
+
 ## Attributes
 
 #### component
@@ -39,6 +44,11 @@ string
 string
 
 
+#### redirect-to
+
+string
+
+
 
 ----------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/packages/core/src/components/route/route.tsx b/packages/core/src/components/route/route.tsx
index 9e0afae050..c59464ed8c 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/components/route/route.tsx
+++ b/packages/core/src/components/route/route.tsx
@@ -7,5 +7,6 @@ import { Component, Prop } from '@stencil/core';
 export class Route {
   @Prop() path = '';
   @Prop() component: string;
+  @Prop() redirectTo: string;
   @Prop() params: {[key: string]: any};
 }
diff --git a/packages/core/src/components/router/router.tsx b/packages/core/src/components/router/router.tsx
index 2bd559f98c..157d2bea3d 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/components/router/router.tsx
+++ b/packages/core/src/components/router/router.tsx
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 import { Build, Component, Element, Listen, Method, Prop } from '@stencil/core';
 import { Config, DomController } from '../../index';
-import { flattenRouterTree, readRoutes } from './utils/parser';
+import { flattenRouterTree, readRoutes, readRedirects } from './utils/parser';
 import { readNavState, writeNavState } from './utils/dom';
 import { chainToPath, generatePath, parsePath, readPath, writePath } from './utils/path';
-import { RouteChain } from './utils/interfaces';
-import { routerIDsToChain, routerPathToChain } from './utils/matching';
+import { RouteChain, RouteRedirect } from './utils/interfaces';
+import { routerIDsToChain, routerPathToChain, routeRedirect } from './utils/matching';
 
 
 @Component({
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import { routerIDsToChain, routerPathToChain } from './utils/matching';
 export class Router {
 
   private routes: RouteChain[];
+  private redirects: RouteRedirect[];
   private busy = false;
   private state = 0;
 
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@ export class Router {
     // read config
     const tree = readRoutes(this.el);
     this.routes = flattenRouterTree(tree);
+    this.redirects = readRedirects(this.el);
 
     if (Build.isDev) {
       console.debug('%c[@ionic/core]', 'font-weight: bold', `ion-router registered ${this.routes.length} routes`);
@@ -42,7 +44,7 @@ export class Router {
     // perform first write
     this.dom.raf(() => {
       console.debug('[OUT] page load -> write nav state');
-      this.writeNavStateRoot();
+      this.onPopState();
     });
   }
 
@@ -52,7 +54,7 @@ export class Router {
       this.state++;
       window.history.replaceState(this.state, document.title, document.location.href);
     }
-    this.writeNavStateRoot();
+    this.writeNavStateRoot(this.readPath());
   }
 
   @Method()
@@ -80,21 +82,23 @@ export class Router {
 
   @Method()
   push(url: string, backDirection = false) {
-    this.writePath(parsePath(url), backDirection);
-    return this.writeNavStateRoot();
+    const path = parsePath(url);
+    this.writePath(path, backDirection);
+    return this.writeNavStateRoot(path);
   }
 
-  private writeNavStateRoot(): Promise<any> {
+  private writeNavStateRoot(path: string[]): Promise<any> {
     if (this.busy) {
       return Promise.resolve();
     }
-    const currentPath = this.readPath();
-    if (!currentPath) {
-      return Promise.resolve();
+    const redirect = routeRedirect(path, this.redirects);
+    if (redirect) {
+      this.writePath(redirect.to, true);
+      path = redirect.to;
     }
     const direction = window.history.state >= this.state ? 1 : -1;
     const node = document.querySelector('ion-app');
-    const chain = routerPathToChain(currentPath, this.routes);
+    const chain = routerPathToChain(path, this.routes);
     return this.writeNavState(node, chain, direction);
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/core/src/components/router/utils/interfaces.ts b/packages/core/src/components/router/utils/interfaces.ts
index f7a26aa2a6..35b932ad10 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/components/router/utils/interfaces.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/components/router/utils/interfaces.ts
@@ -6,6 +6,11 @@ export interface NavOutlet {
   getContainerEl(): HTMLElement | null;
 }
 
+export interface RouteRedirect {
+  path: string[];
+  to: string[];
+}
+
 export interface RouteWrite {
   changed: boolean;
   markVisible?: () => void|Promise<void>;
diff --git a/packages/core/src/components/router/utils/matching.ts b/packages/core/src/components/router/utils/matching.ts
index 39e0480cc5..1ee5169684 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/components/router/utils/matching.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/components/router/utils/matching.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,29 @@
-import { RouteChain, RouteID } from './interfaces';
+import { RouteChain, RouteID, RouteRedirect } from './interfaces';
+
+
+export function matchesRedirect(input: string[], route: RouteRedirect): boolean {
+  const {path} = route;
+  if (path.length !== input.length) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  for (let i = 0; i < path.length; i++) {
+    if (path[i] !== input[i]) {
+      return false;
+    }
+  }
+  return true;
+}
+
+export function routeRedirect(path: string[], routes: RouteRedirect[]): RouteRedirect|null {
+  for (const route of routes) {
+    if (matchesRedirect(path, route)) {
+      return route;
+    }
+  }
+  return null;
+}
+
 
 export function matchesIDs(ids: string[], chain: RouteChain): number {
   const len = Math.min(ids.length, chain.length);
diff --git a/packages/core/src/components/router/utils/parser.ts b/packages/core/src/components/router/utils/parser.ts
index 2c2a500438..16d6012706 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/components/router/utils/parser.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/components/router/utils/parser.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,24 @@
-import { RouteChain, RouteNode, RouteTree } from './interfaces';
+import { RouteChain, RouteNode, RouteRedirect, RouteTree } from './interfaces';
 import { parsePath } from './path';
 
 
+export function readRedirects(root: Element): RouteRedirect[] {
+  return (Array.from(root.children) as HTMLIonRouteElement[])
+  .filter(el => el.tagName === 'ION-ROUTE' && el.redirectTo)
+  .map(el => {
+    if (el.component) {
+      throw new Error('Can\'t mix the component and redirectTo attribute in the same ion-route');
+    }
+    return {
+      path: parsePath(readProp(el, 'path')),
+      to: parsePath(readProp(el, 'redirectTo'))
+    };
+  });
+}
+
 export function readRoutes(root: Element): RouteTree {
   return (Array.from(root.children) as HTMLIonRouteElement[])
-    .filter(el => el.tagName === 'ION-ROUTE')
+    .filter(el => el.tagName === 'ION-ROUTE' && el.component)
     .map(el => {
       const path = parsePath(readProp(el, 'path'));
       if (path.includes(':id')) {