diff --git a/extensions/websockets-next/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/test/client/ClientEndpointTest.java b/extensions/websockets-next/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/test/client/ClientEndpointTest.java
index 5a36ee3511326..617ea30bd31d8 100644
--- a/extensions/websockets-next/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/test/client/ClientEndpointTest.java
+++ b/extensions/websockets-next/deployment/src/test/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/test/client/ClientEndpointTest.java
@@ -43,14 +43,15 @@ public class ClientEndpointTest {
     void testClient() throws InterruptedException {
         WebSocketClientConnection connection = connector
                 .baseUri(uri)
-                .pathParam("name", "Lu")
+                // The value will be encoded automatically
+                .pathParam("name", "Lu=")
                 .connectAndAwait();
-        assertEquals("Lu", connection.pathParam("name"));
+        assertEquals("Lu=", connection.pathParam("name"));
         connection.sendTextAndAwait("Hi!");
 
         assertTrue(ClientEndpoint.MESSAGE_LATCH.await(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS));
-        assertEquals("Lu:Hello Lu!", ClientEndpoint.MESSAGES.get(0));
-        assertEquals("Lu:Hi!", ClientEndpoint.MESSAGES.get(1));
+        assertEquals("Lu=:Hello Lu=!", ClientEndpoint.MESSAGES.get(0));
+        assertEquals("Lu=:Hi!", ClientEndpoint.MESSAGES.get(1));
 
         connection.closeAndAwait();
         assertTrue(ClientEndpoint.CLOSED_LATCH.await(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS));
diff --git a/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/BasicWebSocketConnector.java b/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/BasicWebSocketConnector.java
index 7ee5be65764e7..b1e21c9b12966 100644
--- a/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/BasicWebSocketConnector.java
+++ b/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/BasicWebSocketConnector.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package io.quarkus.websockets.next;
 
 import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.URLEncoder;
 import java.util.function.BiConsumer;
 import java.util.function.Consumer;
 
@@ -51,6 +52,9 @@ static BasicWebSocketConnector create() {
 
     /**
      * Set the path param.
+     * <p>
+     * The value is encoded using {@link URLEncoder#encode(String, java.nio.charset.Charset)} before it's used to build the
+     * target URI.
      *
      * @param name
      * @param value
diff --git a/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/WebSocketClientConnection.java b/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/WebSocketClientConnection.java
index e262a9839bd44..393ba422b7351 100644
--- a/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/WebSocketClientConnection.java
+++ b/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/WebSocketClientConnection.java
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ public interface WebSocketClientConnection extends Sender, BlockingSender {
     /**
      *
      * @param name
-     * @return the actual value of the path parameter or {@code null}
+     * @return the value of the path parameter or {@code null}
      * @see WebSocketClient#path()
      */
     String pathParam(String name);
diff --git a/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/WebSocketConnection.java b/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/WebSocketConnection.java
index d8e1a3cd98551..a63a3e2e5772e 100644
--- a/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/WebSocketConnection.java
+++ b/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/WebSocketConnection.java
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ public interface WebSocketConnection extends Sender, BlockingSender {
     /**
      *
      * @param name
-     * @return the actual value of the path parameter or {@code null}
+     * @return the decoded value of the path parameter or {@code null}
      * @see WebSocket#path()
      */
     String pathParam(String name);
diff --git a/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/WebSocketConnector.java b/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/WebSocketConnector.java
index 4b771a66c7833..257094e31fe23 100644
--- a/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/WebSocketConnector.java
+++ b/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/WebSocketConnector.java
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package io.quarkus.websockets.next;
 
 import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.URLEncoder;
 
 import io.smallrye.common.annotation.CheckReturnValue;
 import io.smallrye.common.annotation.Experimental;
@@ -28,6 +29,9 @@ public interface WebSocketConnector<CLIENT> {
 
     /**
      * Set the path param.
+     * <p>
+     * The value is encoded using {@link URLEncoder#encode(String, java.nio.charset.Charset)} before it's used to build the
+     * target URI.
      *
      * @param name
      * @param value
diff --git a/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/runtime/WebSocketConnectorBase.java b/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/runtime/WebSocketConnectorBase.java
index 4059996cd8369..728850f3083fd 100644
--- a/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/runtime/WebSocketConnectorBase.java
+++ b/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/runtime/WebSocketConnectorBase.java
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 package io.quarkus.websockets.next.runtime;
 
 import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.URLEncoder;
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.HashSet;
@@ -121,7 +123,7 @@ String replacePathParameters(String path) {
             if (val == null) {
                 throw new WebSocketClientException("Unable to obtain the path param for: " + paramName);
             }
-            m.appendReplacement(sb, val);
+            m.appendReplacement(sb, URLEncoder.encode(val, StandardCharsets.UTF_8));
         }
         m.appendTail(sb);
         return path.startsWith("/") ? sb.toString() : "/" + sb.toString();
diff --git a/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/runtime/WebSocketConnectorImpl.java b/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/runtime/WebSocketConnectorImpl.java
index 8b8781ccac2ed..ceaeab285dd80 100644
--- a/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/runtime/WebSocketConnectorImpl.java
+++ b/extensions/websockets-next/runtime/src/main/java/io/quarkus/websockets/next/runtime/WebSocketConnectorImpl.java
@@ -92,7 +92,7 @@ public Uni<WebSocketClientConnection> connect() {
                 .setPort(serverEndpointUri.getPort());
         StringBuilder uri = new StringBuilder();
         if (serverEndpointUri.getPath() != null) {
-            uri.append(serverEndpointUri.getPath());
+            uri.append(serverEndpointUri.getRawPath());
         }
         if (serverEndpointUri.getQuery() != null) {
             uri.append("?").append(serverEndpointUri.getQuery());