diff --git a/backend/remote-state/s3/backend.go b/backend/remote-state/s3/backend.go
index 93a505048..6e5ecdeba 100644
--- a/backend/remote-state/s3/backend.go
+++ b/backend/remote-state/s3/backend.go
@@ -219,6 +219,13 @@ func New() backend.Backend {
 				Description: "Force s3 to use path style api.",
 				Default:     false,
 			},
+
+			"max_retries": {
+				Type:        schema.TypeInt,
+				Optional:    true,
+				Description: "The maximum number of times an AWS API request is retried on retryable failure.",
+				Default:     5,
+			},
 		},
 	}
 
@@ -285,6 +292,7 @@ func (b *Backend) configure(ctx context.Context) error {
 		SkipRequestingAccountId: data.Get("skip_requesting_account_id").(bool),
 		SkipMetadataApiCheck:    data.Get("skip_metadata_api_check").(bool),
 		S3ForcePathStyle:        data.Get("force_path_style").(bool),
+		MaxRetries:              data.Get("max_retries").(int),
 	}
 
 	client, err := cfg.Client()
diff --git a/backend/remote-state/s3/backend_state.go b/backend/remote-state/s3/backend_state.go
index bd4fb90a5..dc134ecf4 100644
--- a/backend/remote-state/s3/backend_state.go
+++ b/backend/remote-state/s3/backend_state.go
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import (
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws"
+	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/awserr"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/s3"
 
 	"github.com/hashicorp/terraform/backend"
@@ -29,6 +30,9 @@ func (b *Backend) Workspaces() ([]string, error) {
 
 	resp, err := b.s3Client.ListObjects(params)
 	if err != nil {
+		if awsErr, ok := err.(awserr.Error); ok && awsErr.Code() == s3.ErrCodeNoSuchBucket {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf(errS3NoSuchBucket, err)
+		}
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
diff --git a/backend/remote-state/s3/client.go b/backend/remote-state/s3/client.go
index 14d22154b..12500183b 100644
--- a/backend/remote-state/s3/client.go
+++ b/backend/remote-state/s3/client.go
@@ -98,30 +98,21 @@ func (c *RemoteClient) get() (*remote.Payload, error) {
 	var output *s3.GetObjectOutput
 	var err error
 
-	// we immediately retry on an internal error, as those are usually transient
-	maxRetries := 2
-	for retryCount := 0; ; retryCount++ {
-		output, err = c.s3Client.GetObject(&s3.GetObjectInput{
-			Bucket: &c.bucketName,
-			Key:    &c.path,
-		})
+	output, err = c.s3Client.GetObject(&s3.GetObjectInput{
+		Bucket: &c.bucketName,
+		Key:    &c.path,
+	})
 
-		if err != nil {
-			if awserr, ok := err.(awserr.Error); ok {
-				switch awserr.Code() {
-				case s3.ErrCodeNoSuchKey:
-					return nil, nil
-				case s3ErrCodeInternalError:
-					if retryCount > maxRetries {
-						return nil, err
-					}
-					log.Println("[WARN] s3 internal error, retrying...")
-					continue
-				}
+	if err != nil {
+		if awserr, ok := err.(awserr.Error); ok {
+			switch awserr.Code() {
+			case s3.ErrCodeNoSuchBucket:
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf(errS3NoSuchBucket, err)
+			case s3.ErrCodeNoSuchKey:
+				return nil, nil
 			}
-			return nil, err
 		}
-		break
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	defer output.Body.Close()
@@ -149,46 +140,32 @@ func (c *RemoteClient) Put(data []byte) error {
 	contentType := "application/json"
 	contentLength := int64(len(data))
 
-	// we immediately retry on an internal error, as those are usually transient
-	maxRetries := 2
-	for retryCount := 0; ; retryCount++ {
-		i := &s3.PutObjectInput{
-			ContentType:   &contentType,
-			ContentLength: &contentLength,
-			Body:          bytes.NewReader(data),
-			Bucket:        &c.bucketName,
-			Key:           &c.path,
-		}
+	i := &s3.PutObjectInput{
+		ContentType:   &contentType,
+		ContentLength: &contentLength,
+		Body:          bytes.NewReader(data),
+		Bucket:        &c.bucketName,
+		Key:           &c.path,
+	}
 
-		if c.serverSideEncryption {
-			if c.kmsKeyID != "" {
-				i.SSEKMSKeyId = &c.kmsKeyID
-				i.ServerSideEncryption = aws.String("aws:kms")
-			} else {
-				i.ServerSideEncryption = aws.String("AES256")
-			}
+	if c.serverSideEncryption {
+		if c.kmsKeyID != "" {
+			i.SSEKMSKeyId = &c.kmsKeyID
+			i.ServerSideEncryption = aws.String("aws:kms")
+		} else {
+			i.ServerSideEncryption = aws.String("AES256")
 		}
+	}
 
-		if c.acl != "" {
-			i.ACL = aws.String(c.acl)
-		}
+	if c.acl != "" {
+		i.ACL = aws.String(c.acl)
+	}
 
-		log.Printf("[DEBUG] Uploading remote state to S3: %#v", i)
+	log.Printf("[DEBUG] Uploading remote state to S3: %#v", i)
 
-		_, err := c.s3Client.PutObject(i)
-		if err != nil {
-			if awserr, ok := err.(awserr.Error); ok {
-				if awserr.Code() == s3ErrCodeInternalError {
-					if retryCount > maxRetries {
-						return fmt.Errorf("failed to upload state: %s", err)
-					}
-					log.Println("[WARN] s3 internal error, retrying...")
-					continue
-				}
-			}
-			return fmt.Errorf("failed to upload state: %s", err)
-		}
-		break
+	_, err := c.s3Client.PutObject(i)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("failed to upload state: %s", err)
 	}
 
 	sum := md5.Sum(data)
@@ -414,3 +391,12 @@ persists, and neither S3 nor DynamoDB are experiencing an outage, you may need
 to manually verify the remote state and update the Digest value stored in the
 DynamoDB table to the following value: %x
 `
+
+const errS3NoSuchBucket = `S3 bucket does not exist.
+
+The referenced S3 bucket must have been previously created. If the S3 bucket
+was created within the last minute, please wait for a minute or two and try
+again.
+
+Error: %s
+`
diff --git a/website/docs/backends/types/s3.html.md b/website/docs/backends/types/s3.html.md
index 5c5c101d3..6e2b660b5 100644
--- a/website/docs/backends/types/s3.html.md
+++ b/website/docs/backends/types/s3.html.md
@@ -180,6 +180,7 @@ The following configuration options or environment variables are supported:
  * `skip_region_validation` - (Optional) Skip validation of provided region name.
  * `skip_requesting_account_id` - (Optional) Skip requesting the account ID.
  * `skip_metadata_api_check` - (Optional) Skip the AWS Metadata API check.
+ * `max_retries` - (Optional) The maximum number of times an AWS API request is retried on retryable failure. Defaults to 5.
 
 ## Multi-account AWS Architecture