diff --git a/src/lib_stdlib_unix/lwt_utils_unix.ml b/src/lib_stdlib_unix/lwt_utils_unix.ml
index 3c95ad6d9..0fd6447cd 100644
--- a/src/lib_stdlib_unix/lwt_utils_unix.ml
+++ b/src/lib_stdlib_unix/lwt_utils_unix.ml
@@ -288,7 +288,7 @@ module Socket = struct
     | Error (`Msg _) -> host
     | Ok ipaddr -> Ipaddr.to_string ipaddr
 
-  let connect = function
+  let connect ?(timeout=5.) = function
     | Unix path ->
         let addr = Lwt_unix.ADDR_UNIX path in
         let sock = Lwt_unix.socket PF_UNIX SOCK_STREAM 0 in
@@ -300,22 +300,24 @@ module Socket = struct
         | [] ->
             failwith "could not resolve host '%s'" host
         | addrs ->
-            let rec try_connect = function
+            let rec try_connect acc = function
               | [] ->
-                  failwith "could not connect to '%s'" host
+                  Lwt.return
+                    (Error (failure "could not connect to '%s'" host :: List.rev acc))
               | { Unix.ai_family; ai_socktype; ai_protocol; ai_addr } :: addrs ->
                   let sock = Lwt_unix.socket ai_family ai_socktype ai_protocol in
-                  Lwt.catch
-                    (fun () ->
-                       Lwt_unix.connect sock ai_addr >>= fun () ->
-                       return sock)
-                    (fun exn ->
-                       Format.printf "@{<error>@{<title>Unable to connect to %s@}@}@.\
-                                     \  @[<h 0>%a@]@."
-                         host Format.pp_print_text (Printexc.to_string exn) ;
-                       Lwt_unix.close sock >>= fun () ->
-                       try_connect addrs) in
-            try_connect addrs
+                  protect ~on_error:begin fun e ->
+                    Lwt_unix.close sock >>= fun () ->
+                    Lwt.return (Error e)
+                  end begin fun () ->
+                    with_timeout (Lwt_unix.sleep timeout) (fun _c ->
+                        Lwt_unix.connect sock ai_addr >>= fun () ->
+                        return sock)
+                  end >>= function
+                  | Ok sock -> return sock
+                  | Error e ->
+                      try_connect (e @ acc) addrs in
+            try_connect [] addrs
 
   let bind ?(backlog = 10) = function
     | Unix path ->
diff --git a/src/lib_stdlib_unix/lwt_utils_unix.mli b/src/lib_stdlib_unix/lwt_utils_unix.mli
index 9058e8126..98a3467bf 100644
--- a/src/lib_stdlib_unix/lwt_utils_unix.mli
+++ b/src/lib_stdlib_unix/lwt_utils_unix.mli
@@ -78,7 +78,18 @@ module Socket : sig
     | Unix of string
     | Tcp of string * string * Unix.getaddrinfo_option list
 
-  val connect: addr -> Lwt_unix.file_descr tzresult Lwt.t
+  val connect:
+    ?timeout:float -> addr -> Lwt_unix.file_descr tzresult Lwt.t
+  (** [connect ?timeout addr] tries connecting to [addr] and returns
+      the resulting socket file descriptor on success. When using TCP,
+      [Unix.getaddrinfo] is used to resolve the hostname and service
+      (port). The different socket addresses returned by
+      [Unix.getaddrinfo] are tried sequentially, and the [?timeout]
+      argument (default: 5s) governs how long it waits to get a
+      connection. If a connection is not obtained in less than
+      [?timeout], the connection is canceled and and the next socket
+      address (if it exists) is tried. *)
+
   val bind:
     ?backlog:int -> addr -> Lwt_unix.file_descr list tzresult Lwt.t