diff --git a/pkg/cassandra/config/config.go b/pkg/cassandra/config/config.go
index f33a577c511..5dd12bad634 100644
--- a/pkg/cassandra/config/config.go
+++ b/pkg/cassandra/config/config.go
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import (
 type Configuration struct {
 	Servers              []string      `validate:"nonzero"`
 	Keyspace             string        `validate:"nonzero"`
+	LocalDC              string        `yaml:"local_dc"`
 	ConnectionsPerHost   int           `validate:"min=1" yaml:"connections_per_host"`
 	Timeout              time.Duration `validate:"min=500"`
 	ReconnectInterval    time.Duration `validate:"min=500" yaml:"reconnect_interval"`
@@ -130,7 +131,13 @@ func (c *Configuration) NewCluster() *gocql.ClusterConfig {
 	} else {
 		cluster.Consistency = gocql.ParseConsistency(c.Consistency)
 	}
-	cluster.PoolConfig.HostSelectionPolicy = gocql.TokenAwareHostPolicy(gocql.RoundRobinHostPolicy())
+
+	fallbackHostSelectionPolicy := gocql.RoundRobinHostPolicy()
+	if c.LocalDC != "" {
+		fallbackHostSelectionPolicy = gocql.DCAwareRoundRobinPolicy(c.LocalDC)
+	}
+	cluster.PoolConfig.HostSelectionPolicy = gocql.TokenAwareHostPolicy(fallbackHostSelectionPolicy, gocql.ShuffleReplicas())
+
 	if c.Authenticator.Basic.Username != "" && c.Authenticator.Basic.Password != "" {
 		cluster.Authenticator = gocql.PasswordAuthenticator{
 			Username: c.Authenticator.Basic.Username,
diff --git a/plugin/storage/cassandra/options.go b/plugin/storage/cassandra/options.go
index 5427cdec836..7652e7246c1 100644
--- a/plugin/storage/cassandra/options.go
+++ b/plugin/storage/cassandra/options.go
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ const (
 	suffixServers           = ".servers"
 	suffixPort              = ".port"
 	suffixKeyspace          = ".keyspace"
+	suffixDC                = ".local-dc"
 	suffixConsistency       = ".consistency"
 	suffixProtoVer          = ".proto-version"
 	suffixSocketKeepAlive   = ".socket-keep-alive"
@@ -148,6 +149,10 @@ func addFlags(flagSet *flag.FlagSet, nsConfig *namespaceConfig) {
 		nsConfig.namespace+suffixKeyspace,
 		nsConfig.Keyspace,
 		"The Cassandra keyspace for Jaeger data")
+	flagSet.String(
+		nsConfig.namespace+suffixDC,
+		nsConfig.LocalDC,
+		"The name of the Cassandra local data center for DC Aware host selection")
 	flagSet.String(
 		nsConfig.namespace+suffixConsistency,
 		nsConfig.Consistency,
@@ -214,6 +219,7 @@ func (cfg *namespaceConfig) initFromViper(v *viper.Viper) {
 	cfg.servers = v.GetString(cfg.namespace + suffixServers)
 	cfg.Port = v.GetInt(cfg.namespace + suffixPort)
 	cfg.Keyspace = v.GetString(cfg.namespace + suffixKeyspace)
+	cfg.LocalDC = v.GetString(cfg.namespace + suffixDC)
 	cfg.Consistency = v.GetString(cfg.namespace + suffixConsistency)
 	cfg.ProtoVersion = v.GetInt(cfg.namespace + suffixProtoVer)
 	cfg.SocketKeepAlive = v.GetDuration(cfg.namespace + suffixSocketKeepAlive)
diff --git a/plugin/storage/cassandra/options_test.go b/plugin/storage/cassandra/options_test.go
index 262172b4edc..a4af1b5ec55 100644
--- a/plugin/storage/cassandra/options_test.go
+++ b/plugin/storage/cassandra/options_test.go
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ func TestOptionsWithFlags(t *testing.T) {
 	v, command := config.Viperize(opts.AddFlags)
 	command.ParseFlags([]string{
 		"--cas.keyspace=jaeger",
+		"--cas.local-dc=mojave",
 		"--cas.servers=1.1.1.1,2.2.2.2",
 		"--cas.connections-per-host=42",
 		"--cas.reconnect-interval=42s",
@@ -67,6 +68,7 @@ func TestOptionsWithFlags(t *testing.T) {
 
 	primary := opts.GetPrimary()
 	assert.Equal(t, "jaeger", primary.Keyspace)
+	assert.Equal(t, "mojave", primary.LocalDC)
 	assert.Equal(t, []string{"1.1.1.1", "2.2.2.2"}, primary.Servers)
 	assert.Equal(t, "ONE", primary.Consistency)