diff --git a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriBuilderFactory.java b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriBuilderFactory.java
index 8daaf768a01..cfb5e7ac3f8 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriBuilderFactory.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/main/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriBuilderFactory.java
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ public class DefaultUriBuilderFactory implements UriBuilderFactory {
 
 	private EncodingMode encodingMode = EncodingMode.URI_COMPONENT;
 
+	private boolean parsePath = true;
+
 
 	/**
 	 * Default constructor without a base URI.
@@ -126,6 +128,28 @@ public class DefaultUriBuilderFactory implements UriBuilderFactory {
 		return this.encodingMode;
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Whether to parse the path into path segments for the URI string passed
+	 * into {@link #uriString(String)} or one of the expand methods.
+	 * <p>Setting this property to {@code true} ensures that URI variables
+	 * expanded into the path are subject to path segment encoding rules and
+	 * "/" characters are percent-encoded. If set to {@code false} the path is
+	 * kept as a full path and expanded URI variables will have "/" characters
+	 * preserved.
+	 * <p>By default this is set to {@code true}.
+	 * @param parsePath whether to parse the path into path segments
+	 */
+	public void setParsePath(boolean parsePath) {
+		this.parsePath = parsePath;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Whether the handler is configured to parse the path into path segments.
+	 */
+	public boolean shouldParsePath() {
+		return this.parsePath;
+	}
+
 
 	// UriTemplateHandler
 
@@ -158,16 +182,22 @@ public class DefaultUriBuilderFactory implements UriBuilderFactory {
 
 		private UriComponentsBuilder initUriComponentsBuilder(String uriTemplate) {
 
-			// Merge base URI with child URI template
 			UriComponentsBuilder result = baseUri.cloneBuilder();
 			UriComponents child = UriComponentsBuilder.fromUriString(uriTemplate).build();
 			result.uriComponents(child);
 
-			// Split path into path segments
-			List<String> pathList = result.build().getPathSegments();
-			String[] pathArray = pathList.toArray(new String[pathList.size()]);
-			result.replacePath(null);
-			result.pathSegment(pathArray);
+			if (shouldParsePath()) {
+				UriComponents uric = result.build();
+				String path = uric.getPath();
+				List<String> pathSegments = uric.getPathSegments();
+
+				result.replacePath(null);
+				result.pathSegment(pathSegments.toArray(new String[0]));
+
+				if (path != null && path.endsWith("/")) {
+					result.path("/");
+				}
+			}
 
 			return result;
 		}
diff --git a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/client/RestTemplateTests.java b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/client/RestTemplateTests.java
index 1ada39213a4..f153174f576 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/client/RestTemplateTests.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/client/RestTemplateTests.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2016 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2017 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -153,6 +153,21 @@ public class RestTemplateTests {
 		verify(response).close();
 	}
 
+	@Test // SPR-15201
+	public void uriTemplateWithTrailingSlash() throws Exception {
+		String url = "http://example.com/spring/";
+		given(requestFactory.createRequest(new URI(url), HttpMethod.GET)).willReturn(request);
+		given(request.execute()).willReturn(response);
+		given(errorHandler.hasError(response)).willReturn(false);
+		HttpStatus status = HttpStatus.OK;
+		given(response.getStatusCode()).willReturn(status);
+		given(response.getStatusText()).willReturn(status.getReasonPhrase());
+
+		template.execute(url, HttpMethod.GET, null, null);
+
+		verify(response).close();
+	}
+
 	@Test
 	public void errorHandling() throws Exception {
 		given(requestFactory.createRequest(new URI("http://example.com"), HttpMethod.GET)).willReturn(request);
diff --git a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriBuilderFactoryTests.java b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriBuilderFactoryTests.java
index c7481d7de51..cab2ad614b3 100644
--- a/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriBuilderFactoryTests.java
+++ b/spring-web/src/test/java/org/springframework/web/util/DefaultUriBuilderFactoryTests.java
@@ -127,10 +127,32 @@ public class DefaultUriBuilderFactoryTests {
 	}
 
 	@Test
-	public void initialPathSplitIntoPathSegments() throws Exception {
+	public void parsePathWithDefaultSettings() throws Exception {
 		DefaultUriBuilderFactory factory = new DefaultUriBuilderFactory("/foo/{bar}");
 		URI uri = factory.uriString("/baz/{id}").build("a/b", "c/d");
 		assertEquals("/foo/a%2Fb/baz/c%2Fd", uri.toString());
 	}
 
+	@Test
+	public void parsePathIsTurnedOff() throws Exception {
+		DefaultUriBuilderFactory factory = new DefaultUriBuilderFactory("/foo/{bar}");
+		factory.setParsePath(false);
+		URI uri = factory.uriString("/baz/{id}").build("a/b", "c/d");
+		assertEquals("/foo/a/b/baz/c/d", uri.toString());
+	}
+
+	@Test // SPR-15201
+	public void pathWithTrailingSlash() throws Exception {
+		DefaultUriBuilderFactory factory = new DefaultUriBuilderFactory();
+		URI uri = factory.expand("http://localhost:8080/spring/");
+		assertEquals("http://localhost:8080/spring/", uri.toString());
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	public void pathWithDuplicateSlashes() throws Exception {
+		DefaultUriBuilderFactory factory = new DefaultUriBuilderFactory();
+		URI uri = factory.expand("/foo/////////bar");
+		assertEquals("/foo/bar", uri.toString());
+	}
+
 }