diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerOptions.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerOptions.java
index 790c602d45b..c3e9215a20e 100644
--- a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerOptions.java
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerOptions.java
@@ -1000,7 +1000,7 @@ public static class Builder
     private String compressorName;
     private String emulatorHost = System.getenv("SPANNER_EMULATOR_HOST");
     private boolean leaderAwareRoutingEnabled = true;
-    private boolean attemptDirectPath = true;
+    private boolean attemptDirectPath = false;
     private DirectedReadOptions directedReadOptions;
     private boolean useVirtualThreads = false;
     private OpenTelemetry openTelemetry;
@@ -1604,6 +1604,12 @@ public Builder disableLeaderAwareRouting() {
       return this;
     }
 
+    @BetaApi
+    public Builder enableDirectPath() {
+      this.attemptDirectPath = true;
+      return this;
+    }
+
     @BetaApi
     public Builder disableDirectPath() {
       this.attemptDirectPath = false;
diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/ConnectionOptions.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/ConnectionOptions.java
index 58b2c78fb2f..d9ba873b412 100644
--- a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/ConnectionOptions.java
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/ConnectionOptions.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 package com.google.cloud.spanner.connection;
 
+import static com.google.cloud.spanner.connection.ConnectionProperties.ATTEMPT_DIRECT_PATH;
 import static com.google.cloud.spanner.connection.ConnectionProperties.AUTOCOMMIT;
 import static com.google.cloud.spanner.connection.ConnectionProperties.AUTO_CONFIG_EMULATOR;
 import static com.google.cloud.spanner.connection.ConnectionProperties.AUTO_PARTITION_MODE;
@@ -1081,6 +1082,10 @@ boolean isExperimentalHost() {
     return getInitialConnectionPropertyValue(IS_EXPERIMENTAL_HOST);
   }
 
+  boolean isAttemptDirectPath() {
+    return getInitialConnectionPropertyValue(ATTEMPT_DIRECT_PATH);
+  }
+
   String getClientCertificate() {
     return getInitialConnectionPropertyValue(CLIENT_CERTIFICATE);
   }
diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/ConnectionProperties.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/ConnectionProperties.java
index d9610a5a08a..042d7217586 100644
--- a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/ConnectionProperties.java
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/ConnectionProperties.java
@@ -183,6 +183,20 @@ public class ConnectionProperties {
           BOOLEANS,
           BooleanConverter.INSTANCE,
           Context.STARTUP);
+  static final ConnectionProperty<Boolean> ATTEMPT_DIRECT_PATH =
+      create(
+          "attemptDirectPath",
+          "Configure the connection to try to connect to Spanner using "
+              + "DirectPath (true/false). The client will try to connect to Spanner "
+              + "using a direct Google network connection. DirectPath will work only "
+              + "if the client is trying to establish a connection from a Google Cloud VM. "
+              + "Otherwise it will automatically fallback to the standard network path. "
+              + "NOTE: The default for this property is currently false, "
+              + "but this could be changed in the future.",
+          false,
+          BOOLEANS,
+          BooleanConverter.INSTANCE,
+          Context.STARTUP);
   static final ConnectionProperty<Boolean> USE_AUTO_SAVEPOINTS_FOR_EMULATOR =
       create(
           "useAutoSavepointsForEmulator",
diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/SpannerPool.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/SpannerPool.java
index 8c521b7500e..ea76b727dbb 100644
--- a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/SpannerPool.java
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/SpannerPool.java
@@ -164,6 +164,7 @@ static class SpannerPoolKey {
     private final String clientCertificate;
     private final String clientCertificateKey;
     private final boolean isExperimentalHost;
+    private final boolean attemptDirectPath;
 
     @VisibleForTesting
     static SpannerPoolKey of(ConnectionOptions options) {
@@ -198,6 +199,7 @@ private SpannerPoolKey(ConnectionOptions options) throws IOException {
       this.clientCertificate = options.getClientCertificate();
       this.clientCertificateKey = options.getClientCertificateKey();
       this.isExperimentalHost = options.isExperimentalHost();
+      this.attemptDirectPath = options.isAttemptDirectPath();
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -223,7 +225,8 @@ public boolean equals(Object o) {
           && Objects.equals(this.enableEndToEndTracing, other.enableEndToEndTracing)
           && Objects.equals(this.clientCertificate, other.clientCertificate)
           && Objects.equals(this.clientCertificateKey, other.clientCertificateKey)
-          && Objects.equals(this.isExperimentalHost, other.isExperimentalHost);
+          && Objects.equals(this.isExperimentalHost, other.isExperimentalHost)
+          && Objects.equals(this.attemptDirectPath, other.attemptDirectPath);
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -245,7 +248,8 @@ public int hashCode() {
           this.enableEndToEndTracing,
           this.clientCertificate,
           this.clientCertificateKey,
-          this.isExperimentalHost);
+          this.isExperimentalHost,
+          this.attemptDirectPath);
     }
   }
 
@@ -412,6 +416,9 @@ Spanner createSpanner(SpannerPoolKey key, ConnectionOptions options) {
     if (key.isExperimentalHost) {
       builder.setExperimentalHost(key.host);
     }
+    if (key.attemptDirectPath) {
+      builder.enableDirectPath();
+    }
     if (options.getConfigurator() != null) {
       options.getConfigurator().configure(builder);
     }
diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/spi/v1/GapicSpannerRpc.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/spi/v1/GapicSpannerRpc.java
index 09aec6f3ebe..1a83a195cec 100644
--- a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/spi/v1/GapicSpannerRpc.java
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/spi/v1/GapicSpannerRpc.java
@@ -365,7 +365,7 @@ public GapicSpannerRpc(final SpannerOptions options) {
                       .withEncoding(compressorName))
               .setHeaderProvider(headerProviderWithUserAgent)
               .setAllowNonDefaultServiceAccount(true);
-      boolean isAttemptDirectPathXds = isEnableDirectPathXdsEnv();
+      boolean isAttemptDirectPathXds = isEnableDirectPathXdsEnv() || options.isAttemptDirectPath();
       if (isAttemptDirectPathXds) {
         defaultChannelProviderBuilder.setAttemptDirectPath(true);
         // This will let the credentials try to fetch a hard-bound access token if the runtime
diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/ConnectionOptionsTest.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/ConnectionOptionsTest.java
index af391a745f4..9fb6adea6ef 100644
--- a/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/ConnectionOptionsTest.java
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/connection/ConnectionOptionsTest.java
@@ -1311,4 +1311,17 @@ public void testExperimentalHost() {
             .getSessionPoolOptions()
             .getUseMultiplexedSessionPartitionedOps());
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testAttemptDirectPath() {
+    ConnectionOptions.Builder builderWithoutDirectPathParam = ConnectionOptions.newBuilder();
+    builderWithoutDirectPathParam.setUri(
+        "spanner://localhost:15000/instances/default/databases/singers-db;usePlainText=true");
+    assertFalse(builderWithoutDirectPathParam.build().isAttemptDirectPath());
+
+    ConnectionOptions.Builder builderWithDirectPathParam = ConnectionOptions.newBuilder();
+    builderWithDirectPathParam.setUri(
+        "spanner://localhost:15000/projects/default/instances/default/databases/singers-db;usePlainText=true;attemptDirectPath=true");
+    assertTrue(builderWithDirectPathParam.build().isAttemptDirectPath());
+  }
 }