diff --git a/.readthedocs.yml b/.readthedocs.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..2e1fe3fbc251a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.readthedocs.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+conda:
+    file: python/doc/environment.yml
diff --git a/python/doc/conf.py b/python/doc/conf.py
index 4c324a8086c39..e817bbdd42bd3 100644
--- a/python/doc/conf.py
+++ b/python/doc/conf.py
@@ -42,7 +42,12 @@
 cmd_line = cmd_line_template.format(outputdir=output_dir, moduledir=module_dir)
 apidoc.main(cmd_line.split(" "))
 
-sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath('..'))
+on_rtd = os.environ.get('READTHEDOCS') == 'True'
+
+if not on_rtd:
+    # Hack: On RTD we use the pyarrow package from conda-forge as we cannot
+    # build pyarrow there.
+    sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath('..'))
 
 # -- General configuration ------------------------------------------------
 
diff --git a/python/doc/environment.yml b/python/doc/environment.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..8d1fe9bfb5d11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/python/doc/environment.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+# or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+# distributed with this work for additional information
+# regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+# to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+# "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+# with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+# software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+# "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+# KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+# specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+
+channels:
+- defaults
+- conda-forge
+dependencies:
+- arrow-cpp
+- parquet-cpp
+- pyarrow
+- numpydoc