diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 685f9931f..b704ae9b0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
   information about that every time this information is received. (#1714)
 ### Changed
 - Tracer created with NewTraceWriter now includes the thread information from trace events in the output. (#1716)
+- Increased default timeouts so that they are higher than Cassandra default timeouts.
+  This should help prevent issues where a default configuration overloads a server using default timeouts
+  during retries. (#1701)
 
 ### Fixed
 
diff --git a/cluster.go b/cluster.go
index cf403dd6c..d760b3abc 100644
--- a/cluster.go
+++ b/cluster.go
@@ -51,14 +51,28 @@ type ClusterConfig struct {
 	// versions the protocol selected is not defined (ie, it can be any of the supported in the cluster)
 	ProtoVersion int
 
-	// Connection timeout (default: 600ms)
-	// ConnectTimeout is used to set up the default dialer and is ignored if Dialer or HostDialer is provided.
+	// Timeout limits the time spent on the client side while executing a query.
+	// Specifically, query or batch execution will return an error if the client does not receive a response
+	// from the server within the Timeout period.
+	// Timeout is also used to configure the read timeout on the underlying network connection.
+	// Client Timeout should always be higher than the request timeouts configured on the server,
+	// so that retries don't overload the server.
+	// Timeout has a default value of 11 seconds, which is higher than default server timeout for most query types.
+	// Timeout is not applied to requests during initial connection setup, see ConnectTimeout.
 	Timeout time.Duration
 
-	// Initial connection timeout, used during initial dial to server (default: 600ms)
+	// ConnectTimeout limits the time spent during connection setup.
+	// During initial connection setup, internal queries, AUTH requests will return an error if the client
+	// does not receive a response within the Timeout period.
+	// ConnectTimeout is applied to the connection setup queries independently.
+	// ConnectTimeout also limits the duration of dialing a new TCP connection
+	// in case there is no Dialer nor HostDialer configured.
+	// ConnectTimeout has a default value of 11 seconds.
 	ConnectTimeout time.Duration
 
-	// Timeout for writing a query. Defaults to Timeout if not specified.
+	// WriteTimeout limits the time the driver waits to write a request to a network connection.
+	// WriteTimeout should be lower than or equal to Timeout.
+	// WriteTimeout defaults to the value of Timeout.
 	WriteTimeout time.Duration
 
 	// Port used when dialing.
@@ -244,8 +258,8 @@ func NewCluster(hosts ...string) *ClusterConfig {
 	cfg := &ClusterConfig{
 		Hosts:                  hosts,
 		CQLVersion:             "3.0.0",
-		Timeout:                600 * time.Millisecond,
-		ConnectTimeout:         600 * time.Millisecond,
+		Timeout:                11 * time.Second,
+		ConnectTimeout:         11 * time.Second,
 		Port:                   9042,
 		NumConns:               2,
 		Consistency:            Quorum,
diff --git a/cluster_test.go b/cluster_test.go
index f7fe5acbf..0d580dbd4 100644
--- a/cluster_test.go
+++ b/cluster_test.go
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import (
 func TestNewCluster_Defaults(t *testing.T) {
 	cfg := NewCluster()
 	assertEqual(t, "cluster config cql version", "3.0.0", cfg.CQLVersion)
-	assertEqual(t, "cluster config timeout", 600*time.Millisecond, cfg.Timeout)
+	assertEqual(t, "cluster config timeout", 11*time.Second, cfg.Timeout)
 	assertEqual(t, "cluster config port", 9042, cfg.Port)
 	assertEqual(t, "cluster config num-conns", 2, cfg.NumConns)
 	assertEqual(t, "cluster config consistency", Quorum, cfg.Consistency)
diff --git a/conn_test.go b/conn_test.go
index 42bdbb637..2e4c0ebb2 100644
--- a/conn_test.go
+++ b/conn_test.go
@@ -229,6 +229,7 @@ func TestStartupTimeout(t *testing.T) {
 	// Set very long query connection timeout
 	// so we know CreateSession() is using the ConnectTimeout
 	cluster.Timeout = time.Second * 5
+	cluster.ConnectTimeout = 600 * time.Millisecond
 
 	// Create session should timeout during connect attempt
 	_, err := cluster.CreateSession()