diff --git a/.changeset/witty-carrots-notice.md b/.changeset/witty-carrots-notice.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7c0f5cd7de08
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/witty-carrots-notice.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@sveltejs/kit': patch
+---
+
+Only normalise internal URLs
diff --git a/packages/kit/src/runtime/client/client.js b/packages/kit/src/runtime/client/client.js
index bd07f012ba6f..16a2889d61ad 100644
--- a/packages/kit/src/runtime/client/client.js
+++ b/packages/kit/src/runtime/client/client.js
@@ -238,6 +238,10 @@ export function create_client({ target, session, base, trailing_slash }) {
 			return false; // unnecessary, but TypeScript prefers it this way
 		}
 
+		// if this is an internal navigation intent, use the normalized
+		// URL for the rest of the function
+		url = intent?.url || url;
+
 		// abort if user navigated during update
 		if (token !== current_token) return false;
 
@@ -891,9 +895,12 @@ export function create_client({ target, session, base, trailing_slash }) {
 			const params = route.exec(path);
 
 			if (params) {
-				const id = normalize_path(url.pathname, trailing_slash) + url.search;
+				const normalized = new URL(
+					url.origin + normalize_path(url.pathname, trailing_slash) + url.search + url.hash
+				);
+				const id = normalized.pathname + normalized.search;
 				/** @type {import('./types').NavigationIntent} */
-				const intent = { id, route, params: decode_params(params), url };
+				const intent = { id, route, params: decode_params(params), url: normalized };
 				return intent;
 			}
 		}
@@ -930,9 +937,6 @@ export function create_client({ target, session, base, trailing_slash }) {
 			return;
 		}
 
-		const pathname = normalize_path(url.pathname, trailing_slash);
-		const normalized = new URL(url.origin + pathname + url.search + url.hash);
-
 		update_scroll_positions(current_history_index);
 
 		accepted();
@@ -940,12 +944,12 @@ export function create_client({ target, session, base, trailing_slash }) {
 		if (started) {
 			stores.navigating.set({
 				from: current.url,
-				to: normalized
+				to: url
 			});
 		}
 
 		await update(
-			normalized,
+			url,
 			redirect_chain,
 			false,
 			{
@@ -954,7 +958,7 @@ export function create_client({ target, session, base, trailing_slash }) {
 				details
 			},
 			() => {
-				const navigation = { from, to: normalized };
+				const navigation = { from, to: url };
 				callbacks.after_navigate.forEach((fn) => fn(navigation));
 
 				stores.navigating.set(null);
diff --git a/packages/kit/test/apps/basics/src/routes/routing/slashes/index.svelte b/packages/kit/test/apps/basics/src/routes/routing/slashes/index.svelte
index b363f6435561..1c2295b61be0 100644
--- a/packages/kit/test/apps/basics/src/routes/routing/slashes/index.svelte
+++ b/packages/kit/test/apps/basics/src/routes/routing/slashes/index.svelte
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+<script>
+	import { page } from '$app/stores';
+</script>
+
 <a href="/routing/">/routing/</a>
 <a href="/routing/?">/routing/?</a>
-<a href="/routing/?foo=bar">/routing/?foo=bar</a>
\ No newline at end of file
+<a href="/routing/?foo=bar">/routing/?foo=bar</a>
+<a href="http://localhost:{$page.url.searchParams.get('port')}/with-slash/">external</a>
diff --git a/packages/kit/test/apps/basics/test/client.test.js b/packages/kit/test/apps/basics/test/client.test.js
index b64954822ca2..0a491d5fdf68 100644
--- a/packages/kit/test/apps/basics/test/client.test.js
+++ b/packages/kit/test/apps/basics/test/client.test.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { expect } from '@playwright/test';
-import { test } from '../../../utils.js';
+import { start_server, test } from '../../../utils.js';
 
 /** @typedef {import('@playwright/test').Response} Response */
 
@@ -544,6 +544,24 @@ test.describe('Routing', () => {
 		expect(await page.textContent('#window-hash')).toBe('#target');
 		expect(await page.textContent('#page-url-hash')).toBe('#target');
 	});
+
+	test('does not normalize external path', async ({ page }) => {
+		const urls = [];
+
+		const { port, close } = await start_server((req, res) => {
+			urls.push(req.url);
+			res.end('ok');
+		});
+
+		try {
+			await page.goto(`/routing/slashes?port=${port}`);
+			await page.click(`a[href="http://localhost:${port}/with-slash/"]`);
+
+			expect(urls).toEqual(['/with-slash/']);
+		} finally {
+			await close();
+		}
+	});
 });
 
 test.describe('Shadow DOM', () => {