diff --git a/examples/hash-mode/app.js b/examples/hash-mode/app.js
index ebc1aba4e..f90da3255 100644
--- a/examples/hash-mode/app.js
+++ b/examples/hash-mode/app.js
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ Vue.use(VueRouter)
 const Home = { template: '<div>home</div>' }
 const Foo = { template: '<div>foo</div>' }
 const Bar = { template: '<div>bar</div>' }
+const Unicode = { template: '<div>unicode</div>' }
 
 // 3. Create the router
 const router = new VueRouter({
@@ -18,7 +19,8 @@ const router = new VueRouter({
   routes: [
     { path: '/', component: Home }, // all paths are defined without the hash.
     { path: '/foo', component: Foo },
-    { path: '/bar', component: Bar }
+    { path: '/bar', component: Bar },
+    { path: '/é', component: Unicode }
   ]
 })
 
@@ -35,6 +37,7 @@ new Vue({
         <li><router-link to="/foo">/foo</router-link></li>
         <li><router-link to="/bar">/bar</router-link></li>
         <router-link tag="li" to="/bar">/bar</router-link>
+        <li><router-link to="/é">/é</router-link></li>
       </ul>
       <router-view class="view"></router-view>
     </div>
diff --git a/src/history/hash.js b/src/history/hash.js
index f4a2f3828..330f2383c 100644
--- a/src/history/hash.js
+++ b/src/history/hash.js
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ export function getHash (): string {
   // consistent across browsers - Firefox will pre-decode it!
   const href = window.location.href
   const index = href.indexOf('#')
-  return index === -1 ? '' : href.slice(index + 1)
+  return index === -1 ? '' : decodeURI(href.slice(index + 1))
 }
 
 function getUrl (path) {
diff --git a/test/e2e/specs/hash-mode.js b/test/e2e/specs/hash-mode.js
index d6b74369f..33c1df0c5 100644
--- a/test/e2e/specs/hash-mode.js
+++ b/test/e2e/specs/hash-mode.js
@@ -3,11 +3,12 @@ module.exports = {
     browser
     .url('http://localhost:8080/hash-mode/')
       .waitForElementVisible('#app', 1000)
-      .assert.count('li', 4)
-      .assert.count('li a', 3)
+      .assert.count('li', 5)
+      .assert.count('li a', 4)
       .assert.attributeContains('li:nth-child(1) a', 'href', '/hash-mode/#/')
       .assert.attributeContains('li:nth-child(2) a', 'href', '/hash-mode/#/foo')
       .assert.attributeContains('li:nth-child(3) a', 'href', '/hash-mode/#/bar')
+      .assert.attributeContains('li:nth-child(5) a', 'href', '/hash-mode/#/%C3%A9')
       .assert.containsText('.view', 'home')
 
       .click('li:nth-child(2) a')
@@ -30,6 +31,9 @@ module.exports = {
     .url('http://localhost:8080/hash-mode/#/foo')
       .waitForElementVisible('#app', 1000)
       .assert.containsText('.view', 'foo')
+    .url('http://localhost:8080/hash-mode/#/%C3%A9')
+      .waitForElementVisible('#app', 1000)
+      .assert.containsText('.view', 'unicode')
       .end()
   }
 }