diff --git a/gtk/gtkwidget.c b/gtk/gtkwidget.c
index 07080d6b9e..dc2d00c207 100644
--- a/gtk/gtkwidget.c
+++ b/gtk/gtkwidget.c
@@ -5522,31 +5522,79 @@ gtk_widget_real_style_updated (GtkWidget *widget)
     }
 }
 
+static gboolean
+direction_is_forward (GtkDirectionType direction)
+{
+  switch (direction)
+    {
+    case GTK_DIR_TAB_FORWARD:
+    case GTK_DIR_RIGHT:
+    case GTK_DIR_DOWN:
+      return TRUE;
+    case GTK_DIR_TAB_BACKWARD:
+    case GTK_DIR_LEFT:
+    case GTK_DIR_UP:
+      return FALSE;
+    default:
+      g_assert_not_reached ();
+    }
+}
+
 static gboolean
 gtk_widget_real_focus (GtkWidget         *widget,
                        GtkDirectionType   direction)
 {
-  if (gtk_widget_get_can_focus (widget))
+  GtkWidget *focus;
+
+  /* The easy case: not focusable. Just try the children */
+  if (!gtk_widget_get_can_focus (widget))
     {
-      if (!gtk_widget_is_focus (widget))
+      if (gtk_widget_focus_move (widget, direction))
+        return TRUE;
+
+      return FALSE;
+    }
+
+  /* For focusable widgets, we want to focus the widget
+   * before its children. We differentiate 3 cases:
+   * 1) focus is currently on widget
+   * 2) focus is on some child
+   * 3) focus is outside
+   */
+
+  if (gtk_widget_is_focus (widget))
+    {
+      if (direction_is_forward (direction) &&
+          gtk_widget_focus_move (widget, direction))
+        return TRUE;
+
+      return FALSE;
+    }
+
+  focus = gtk_window_get_focus (GTK_WINDOW (gtk_widget_get_root (widget)));
+
+  if (focus && gtk_widget_is_ancestor (focus, widget))
+    {
+      if (gtk_widget_focus_move (widget, direction))
+        return TRUE;
+
+      if (direction_is_forward (direction))
+        return FALSE;
+      else
         {
           gtk_widget_grab_focus (widget);
           return TRUE;
         }
     }
-  else if (_gtk_widget_get_first_child (widget) == NULL)
+
+  if (!direction_is_forward (direction))
     {
-      /* No children, no possibility to focus anything */
-      return FALSE;
-    }
-  else
-    {
-      /* Try focusing any of the child widgets, depending on the given direction */
       if (gtk_widget_focus_move (widget, direction))
         return TRUE;
     }
 
-  return FALSE;
+  gtk_widget_grab_focus (widget);
+  return TRUE;
 }
 
 static void
diff --git a/testsuite/gtk/focus-chain/focusable-container.tab b/testsuite/gtk/focus-chain/focusable-container.tab
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..21816d5316
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testsuite/gtk/focus-chain/focusable-container.tab
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+entry1 GtkText
+box
+entry2 GtkText
+entry3 GtkText
+WRAP
diff --git a/testsuite/gtk/focus-chain/focusable-container.tab-backward b/testsuite/gtk/focus-chain/focusable-container.tab-backward
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..46d54a6137
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testsuite/gtk/focus-chain/focusable-container.tab-backward
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+entry3 GtkText
+entry2 GtkText
+box
+entry1 GtkText
+WRAP
diff --git a/testsuite/gtk/focus-chain/focusable-container.ui b/testsuite/gtk/focus-chain/focusable-container.ui
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e6d2947d20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/testsuite/gtk/focus-chain/focusable-container.ui
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+<interface>
+  <object class="GtkWindow" id="window">
+    <child>
+      <object class="GtkBox">
+        <child>
+          <object class="GtkEntry">
+            <property name="name">entry1</property>
+          </object>
+        </child>
+        <child>
+          <object class="GtkBox">
+            <property name="name">box</property>
+            <property name="can-focus">1</property>
+            <child>
+              <object class="GtkEntry">
+               <property name="name">entry2</property>
+              </object>
+            </child>
+            <child>
+              <object class="GtkEntry">
+               <property name="name">entry3</property>
+              </object>
+            </child>
+          </object>
+        </child>
+      </object>
+    </child>
+  </object>
+</interface>
diff --git a/testsuite/gtk/meson.build b/testsuite/gtk/meson.build
index f331e02d41..d3a4ea13f0 100644
--- a/testsuite/gtk/meson.build
+++ b/testsuite/gtk/meson.build
@@ -136,6 +136,8 @@ focus_chain_tests = [
   [ 'basic', 'tab-backward' ],
   [ 'basic', 'left' ],
   [ 'basic', 'right' ],
+  [ 'focusable-container', 'tab' ],
+  [ 'focusable-container', 'tab-backward' ],
 ]
 
 focus_chain = executable(
diff --git a/testsuite/gtk/test-focus-chain.c b/testsuite/gtk/test-focus-chain.c
index dac0d114ac..a76082feca 100644
--- a/testsuite/gtk/test-focus-chain.c
+++ b/testsuite/gtk/test-focus-chain.c
@@ -92,9 +92,10 @@ generate_focus_chain (GtkWidget        *window,
 {
   char *first = NULL;
   char *last = NULL;
-  char *name;
+  char *name = NULL;
   GString *output = g_string_new ("");
   GtkWidget *focus;
+  int count = 0;
 
   gtk_widget_show (window);
 
@@ -135,6 +136,7 @@ generate_focus_chain (GtkWidget        *window,
         }
 
       g_string_append_printf (output, "%s\n", name);
+      count++;
 
       if (!first)
         first = g_strdup (name);
@@ -142,9 +144,16 @@ generate_focus_chain (GtkWidget        *window,
       g_free (last);
       last = g_strdup (name);
 
+      if (count == 100)
+        {
+          g_string_append (output, "ABORT\n");
+          break;
+        }
+
       g_free (name);
     }
 
+  g_free (name);
   g_free (first);
   g_free (last);