diff --git a/requests/models.py b/requests/models.py
index f9a2f5ab..6f794e27 100644
--- a/requests/models.py
+++ b/requests/models.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import socket
 import zlib
 
 from urllib2 import HTTPError
-from urlparse import urlparse
+from urlparse import urlparse, urlunparse
 from datetime import datetime
 
 from .config import settings
@@ -238,6 +238,10 @@ class Request(object):
     def _build_url(self):
         """Build the actual URL to use"""
 
+        parsed_url = list(urlparse(self.url))
+        parsed_url[1] = parsed_url[1].encode('idna')
+        self.url = urlunparse(parsed_url)
+
         if self._enc_params:
             if urlparse(self.url).query:
                 return '%s&%s' % (self.url, self._enc_params)
diff --git a/test_requests.py b/test_requests.py
index 848297e4..f2aded24 100755
--- a/test_requests.py
+++ b/test_requests.py
@@ -321,6 +321,9 @@ class RequestsTestSuite(unittest.TestCase):
         self.assertEquals(rbody.get('form'), None)
         self.assertEquals(rbody.get('data'), 'foobar')
 
+    def test_idna(self):
+        r = requests.get(u'http://➡.ws/httpbin')
+        self.assertEqual(r.url, HTTPBIN_URL)
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':