diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/layout.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/layout.ts
index 4a307ca4636..c578a6e9a20 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/layout.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/app/components/layout.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { defineComponent, isRef, Ref, Transition } from 'vue'
+import { defineComponent, isRef, nextTick, onMounted, Ref, Transition, VNode } from 'vue'
 import { _wrapIf } from './utils'
 import { useRoute } from '#app'
 // @ts-ignore
@@ -16,6 +16,18 @@ export default defineComponent({
   setup (props, context) {
     const route = useRoute()
 
+    let vnode: VNode
+    let _layout: string | false
+    if (process.dev && process.client) {
+      onMounted(() => {
+        nextTick(() => {
+          if (_layout && ['#comment', '#text'].includes(vnode?.el?.nodeName)) {
+            console.warn(`[nuxt] \`${_layout}\` layout does not have a single root node and will cause errors when navigating between routes.`)
+          }
+        })
+      })
+    }
+
     return () => {
       const layout = (isRef(props.name) ? props.name.value : props.name) ?? route.meta.layout as string ?? 'default'
 
@@ -24,10 +36,20 @@ export default defineComponent({
         console.warn(`Invalid layout \`${layout}\` selected.`)
       }
 
+      const transitionProps = route.meta.layoutTransition ?? defaultLayoutTransition
+
       // We avoid rendering layout transition if there is no layout to render
-      return _wrapIf(Transition, hasLayout && (route.meta.layoutTransition ?? defaultLayoutTransition),
-        _wrapIf(layouts[layout], hasLayout, context.slots)
-      ).default()
+      return _wrapIf(Transition, hasLayout && transitionProps, {
+        default: () => {
+          if (process.dev && process.client && transitionProps) {
+            _layout = layout
+            vnode = _wrapIf(layouts[layout], hasLayout, context.slots).default()
+            return vnode
+          }
+
+          return _wrapIf(layouts[layout], hasLayout, context.slots).default()
+        }
+      }).default()
     }
   }
 })
diff --git a/packages/nuxt/src/pages/runtime/page.ts b/packages/nuxt/src/pages/runtime/page.ts
index 49e223df6f5..9d394a25313 100644
--- a/packages/nuxt/src/pages/runtime/page.ts
+++ b/packages/nuxt/src/pages/runtime/page.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
-import { computed, DefineComponent, defineComponent, h, inject, provide, reactive, Suspense, Transition } from 'vue'
-import { RouteLocation, RouteLocationNormalized, RouteLocationNormalizedLoaded, RouterView } from 'vue-router'
+import { computed, defineComponent, h, inject, provide, reactive, onMounted, nextTick, Suspense, Transition } from 'vue'
+import type { DefineComponent, VNode } from 'vue'
+import { RouteLocationNormalized, RouteLocationNormalizedLoaded, RouterView } from 'vue-router'
+import type { RouteLocation } from 'vue-router'
 
 import { generateRouteKey, RouterViewSlotProps, wrapInKeepAlive } from './utils'
 import { useNuxtApp } from '#app'
@@ -34,15 +36,16 @@ export default defineComponent({
           if (!routeProps.Component) { return }
 
           const key = generateRouteKey(props.pageKey, routeProps)
+          const transitionProps = routeProps.route.meta.pageTransition ?? defaultPageTransition
 
-          return _wrapIf(Transition, routeProps.route.meta.pageTransition ?? defaultPageTransition,
+          return _wrapIf(Transition, transitionProps,
             wrapInKeepAlive(routeProps.route.meta.keepalive, isNested && nuxtApp.isHydrating
             // Include route children in parent suspense
-              ? h(Component, { key, routeProps, pageKey: key } as {})
+              ? h(Component, { key, routeProps, pageKey: key, hasTransition: !!transitionProps } as {})
               : h(Suspense, {
                 onPending: () => nuxtApp.callHook('page:start', routeProps.Component),
                 onResolve: () => nuxtApp.callHook('page:finish', routeProps.Component)
-              }, { default: () => h(Component, { key, routeProps, pageKey: key } as {}) })
+              }, { default: () => h(Component, { key, routeProps, pageKey: key, hasTransition: !!transitionProps } as {}) })
             )).default()
         }
       })
@@ -60,7 +63,7 @@ const defaultPageTransition = { name: 'page', mode: 'out-in' }
 const Component = defineComponent({
   // TODO: Type props
   // eslint-disable-next-line vue/require-prop-types
-  props: ['routeProps', 'pageKey'],
+  props: ['routeProps', 'pageKey', 'hasTransition'],
   setup (props) {
     // Prevent reactivity when the page will be rerendered in a different suspense fork
     const previousKey = props.pageKey
@@ -73,6 +76,26 @@ const Component = defineComponent({
     }
 
     provide('_route', reactive(route))
-    return () => h(props.routeProps.Component)
+
+    let vnode: VNode
+    if (process.dev && process.client && props.hasTransition) {
+      onMounted(() => {
+        nextTick(() => {
+          if (['#comment', '#text'].includes(vnode?.el?.nodeName)) {
+            const filename = (vnode?.type as any).__file
+            console.warn(`[nuxt] \`${filename}\` does not have a single root node and will cause errors when navigating between routes.`)
+          }
+        })
+      })
+    }
+
+    return () => {
+      if (process.dev && process.client) {
+        vnode = h(props.routeProps.Component)
+        return vnode
+      }
+
+      return h(props.routeProps.Component)
+    }
   }
 })
diff --git a/test/basic.test.ts b/test/basic.test.ts
index 16f388dbe50..cee7e7c7e82 100644
--- a/test/basic.test.ts
+++ b/test/basic.test.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url'
 import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { joinURL } from 'ufo'
 // import { isWindows } from 'std-env'
 import { setup, fetch, $fetch, startServer } from '@nuxt/test-utils'
-import { expectNoClientErrors } from './utils'
+import { expectNoClientErrors, renderPage } from './utils'
 
 await setup({
   rootDir: fileURLToPath(new URL('./fixtures/basic', import.meta.url)),
@@ -359,6 +360,28 @@ describe('automatically keyed composables', () => {
   })
 })
 
+if (process.env.NUXT_TEST_DEV) {
+  describe('detecting invalid root nodes', () => {
+    it('should detect invalid root nodes in pages', async () => {
+      for (const path of ['1', '2', '3', '4']) {
+        const { consoleLogs } = await renderPage(joinURL('/invalid-root', path))
+        const consoleLogsWarns = consoleLogs.filter(i => i.type === 'warning').map(w => w.text).join('\n')
+        expect(consoleLogsWarns).toContain('does not have a single root node and will cause errors when navigating between routes')
+      }
+    })
+
+    it('should not complain if there is no transition', async () => {
+      for (const path of ['fine']) {
+        const { consoleLogs } = await renderPage(joinURL('/invalid-root', path))
+
+        const consoleLogsWarns = consoleLogs.filter(i => i.type === 'warning')
+
+        expect(consoleLogsWarns.length).toEqual(0)
+      }
+    })
+  })
+}
+
 describe('dynamic paths', () => {
   if (process.env.NUXT_TEST_DEV) {
     // TODO:
diff --git a/test/fixtures/basic/layouts/invalid-root.vue b/test/fixtures/basic/layouts/invalid-root.vue
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..51304a719b8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/basic/layouts/invalid-root.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+<template>
+  <div />
+  <slot />
+</template>
diff --git a/test/fixtures/basic/pages/invalid-root/1.vue b/test/fixtures/basic/pages/invalid-root/1.vue
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..908dc5c7c4f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/basic/pages/invalid-root/1.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+<template>
+  <!-- comment -->
+  <div>Test</div>
+</template>
diff --git a/test/fixtures/basic/pages/invalid-root/2.vue b/test/fixtures/basic/pages/invalid-root/2.vue
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..38ce1ce703d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/basic/pages/invalid-root/2.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+<template>
+  Just some text
+</template>
diff --git a/test/fixtures/basic/pages/invalid-root/3.vue b/test/fixtures/basic/pages/invalid-root/3.vue
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..60a2297fbe4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/basic/pages/invalid-root/3.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+<template>
+  <div>Multiple</div>
+  <div>elements</div>
+</template>
diff --git a/test/fixtures/basic/pages/invalid-root/4.vue b/test/fixtures/basic/pages/invalid-root/4.vue
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..133c2c07f89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/basic/pages/invalid-root/4.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+<template>
+  <div>Fine</div>
+</template>
+
+<script setup>
+definePageMeta({ layout: 'invalid-root' })
+</script>
diff --git a/test/fixtures/basic/pages/invalid-root/fine.vue b/test/fixtures/basic/pages/invalid-root/fine.vue
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ac450e84e3d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixtures/basic/pages/invalid-root/fine.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+<template>
+  <div>Multiple</div>
+  <div>elements</div>
+</template>
+
+<script setup>
+definePageMeta({
+  pageTransition: false
+})
+</script>