diff --git a/cluster/gke/config-common.sh b/cluster/gke/config-common.sh
index 18015ec92d3..51982057f19 100644
--- a/cluster/gke/config-common.sh
+++ b/cluster/gke/config-common.sh
@@ -18,7 +18,13 @@
 # Specifically, the following environment variables are assumed:
 # - CLUSTER_NAME  (the name of the cluster)
 
-ZONE="${ZONE:-us-central1-f}"
+if [ ! -z "${REGION:-}" ] && [ ! -z "${ZONE:-}" ]; then
+  echo "Only one of REGION and ZONE can be set." >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+if [ -z "${REGION:-}" ]; then
+  ZONE="${ZONE:-us-central1-f}"
+fi
 NUM_NODES="${NUM_NODES:-3}"
 ADDITIONAL_ZONES="${ADDITIONAL_ZONES:-}"
 CLUSTER_API_VERSION="${CLUSTER_API_VERSION:-}"
diff --git a/cluster/gke/util.sh b/cluster/gke/util.sh
index e3b8f03f259..57c8f634f84 100755
--- a/cluster/gke/util.sh
+++ b/cluster/gke/util.sh
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ function prepare-e2e() {
 #   GCLOUD
 # Vars set:
 #   PROJECT
+#   SCOPE_ARGS
 function detect-project() {
   echo "... in gke:detect-project()" >&2
   if [[ -z "${PROJECT:-}" ]]; then
@@ -79,6 +80,18 @@ function detect-project() {
     echo "'gcloud config set project <PROJECT>'" >&2
     exit 1
   fi
+
+  SCOPE_ARGS=(
+    "--project=${PROJECT}"
+  )
+
+  if [[ ! -z "${ZONE:-}" ]]; then
+    SCOPE_ARGS+=("--zone=${ZONE}")
+  fi
+
+  if [[ ! -z "${REGION:-}" ]]; then
+    SCOPE_ARGS+=("--region=${REGION}")
+  fi
 }
 
 # Execute prior to running tests to build a release if required for env.
@@ -116,6 +129,9 @@ function validate-cluster {
   # Simply override the NUM_NODES variable if we've spread nodes across multiple
   # zones before calling into the generic validate-cluster logic.
   local EXPECTED_NUM_NODES="${NUM_NODES}"
+  if [ ! -z "${REGION:-}" ]; then
+    (( EXPECTED_NUM_NODES *= 3 ))
+  fi
   for zone in $(echo "${ADDITIONAL_ZONES}" | sed "s/,/ /g")
   do
     (( EXPECTED_NUM_NODES += NUM_NODES ))
@@ -128,7 +144,8 @@ function validate-cluster {
 # Assumed vars:
 #   GCLOUD
 #   CLUSTER_NAME
-#   ZONE
+#   ZONE (optional)
+#   REGION (optional)
 #   CLUSTER_API_VERSION (optional)
 #   NUM_NODES
 #   ADDITIONAL_ZONES (optional)
@@ -164,8 +181,7 @@ function kube-up() {
   fi
 
   local shared_args=(
-    "--zone=${ZONE}"
-    "--project=${PROJECT}"
+    ${SCOPE_ARGS[@]}
     "--scopes=${NODE_SCOPES}"
   )
 
@@ -185,6 +201,7 @@ function kube-up() {
     "--network=${NETWORK}"
     "--cluster-version=${CLUSTER_API_VERSION}"
     "--machine-type=${MACHINE_TYPE}"
+    "--quiet"
   )
 
   if [[ ! -z "${ENABLE_KUBERNETES_ALPHA:-}" ]]; then
@@ -239,7 +256,7 @@ function test-setup() {
   detect-nodes >&2
 
   # At this point, CLUSTER_NAME should have been used, so its value is final.
-  NODE_TAG=$($GCLOUD compute instances describe ${NODE_NAMES[0]} --project="${PROJECT}" --zone="${ZONE}" --format='value(tags.items)' | grep -o "gke-${CLUSTER_NAME}-.\{8\}-node")
+  NODE_TAG=$($GCLOUD compute instances list ${NODE_NAMES[0]} --project="${PROJECT}" --format='value(tags.items)' | grep -o "gke-${CLUSTER_NAME}-.\{8\}-node")
   OLD_NODE_TAG="k8s-${CLUSTER_NAME}-node"
 
   # Open up port 80 & 8080 so common containers on minions can be reached.
@@ -276,7 +293,7 @@ function detect-master() {
   echo "... in gke:detect-master()" >&2
   detect-project >&2
   KUBE_MASTER_IP=$("${GCLOUD}" ${CMD_GROUP:-} container clusters describe \
-    --project="${PROJECT}" --zone="${ZONE}" --format='value(endpoint)' \
+     ${SCOPE_ARGS[@]} --format='value(endpoint)' \
     "${CLUSTER_NAME}")
 }
 
@@ -291,11 +308,16 @@ function detect-nodes() {
 
 # Detect minions created in the minion group
 #
-# Note that this will only select nodes in the same zone as the
+# Note that for zonal clusters this will only select nodes in the same zone as the
 # cluster, meaning that it won't include all nodes in a multi-zone cluster.
+# For regional clusters, this will select nodes only from arbitrarily chosen node instance group.
 #
 # Assumed vars:
-#   none
+#   GCLOUD
+#   PROJECT
+#   ZONE (optional)
+#   REGION (optional)
+#   CLUSTER_NAME
 # Vars set:
 #   NODE_NAMES
 function detect-node-names {
@@ -305,8 +327,10 @@ function detect-node-names {
 
   NODE_NAMES=()
   for group in "${NODE_INSTANCE_GROUPS[@]:-}"; do
+    # We can't simply use --zone "${ZONE}" as ZONE may not be set (e.g. when REGION is set).
+    local igm_zone=$(gcloud compute instance-groups managed list "${group}" --format='value(zone)')
     NODE_NAMES+=($(gcloud compute instance-groups managed list-instances \
-      "${group}" --zone "${ZONE}" \
+      "${group}" --zone "${igm_zone}" \
       --project "${PROJECT}" --format='value(instance)'))
   done
   echo "NODE_NAMES=${NODE_NAMES[*]:-}"
@@ -314,15 +338,18 @@ function detect-node-names {
 
 # Detect instance group name generated by gke.
 #
-# Note that the NODE_INSTANCE_GROUPS var will only have instance groups in the
+# Note that for zonal clusters the NODE_INSTANCE_GROUPS var will only have instance groups in the
 # same zone as the cluster, meaning that it won't include all groups in a
-# multi-zone cluster. The ALL_INSTANCE_GROUP_URLS will contain all the
-# instance group URLs, which include multi-zone groups.
+# multi-zone cluster.
+# For regional clusters, NODE_INSTANCE_GROUPS is set to arbitrarily chosen node instance group.
+# The ALL_INSTANCE_GROUP_URLS will contain all the instance group URLs,
+# which include multi-zone groups.
 #
 # Assumed vars:
 #   GCLOUD
-#   PROJECT
-#   ZONE
+#   SCOPE_ARGS
+#   ZONE (optional)
+#   REGION (optional)
 #   CLUSTER_NAME
 # Vars set:
 #   NODE_INSTANCE_GROUPS
@@ -330,17 +357,21 @@ function detect-node-names {
 function detect-node-instance-groups {
   echo "... in gke:detect-node-instance-groups()" >&2
   local urls=$("${GCLOUD}" ${CMD_GROUP:-} container clusters describe \
-    --project="${PROJECT}" --zone="${ZONE}" \
-    --format='value(instanceGroupUrls)' "${CLUSTER_NAME}")
+    ${SCOPE_ARGS[@]} --format='value(instanceGroupUrls)' "${CLUSTER_NAME}")
   urls=(${urls//;/ })
   ALL_INSTANCE_GROUP_URLS=${urls[*]}
   NODE_INSTANCE_GROUPS=()
-  for url in "${urls[@]:-}"; do
-    local igm_zone=$(expr ${url} : '.*/zones/\([a-z0-9-]*\)/')
-    if [[ "${igm_zone}" == "${ZONE}" ]]; then
-      NODE_INSTANCE_GROUPS+=("${url##*/}")
-    fi
-  done
+  if [[ ! -z "${ZONE:-}" ]]; then
+    for url in "${urls[@]:-}"; do
+      local igm_zone=$(expr ${url} : '.*/zones/\([a-z0-9-]*\)/')
+      if [[ "${igm_zone}" == "${ZONE}" ]]; then
+        NODE_INSTANCE_GROUPS+=("${url##*/}")
+      fi
+    done
+  fi
+  if [[ ! -z "${REGION:-}" ]]; then
+    NODE_INSTANCE_GROUPS+=("${urls[0]}")
+  fi
 }
 
 # SSH to a node by name ($1) and run a command ($2).
@@ -413,13 +444,15 @@ function test-teardown() {
 #
 # Assumed vars:
 #  GCLOUD
-#  ZONE
+#  SCOPE_ARGS
+#  ZONE (optional)
+#  REGION (optional)
 #  CLUSTER_NAME
 function kube-down() {
   echo "... in gke:kube-down()" >&2
   detect-project >&2
-  if "${GCLOUD}" ${CMD_GROUP:-} container clusters describe --project="${PROJECT}" --zone="${ZONE}" "${CLUSTER_NAME}" --quiet &>/dev/null; then
-    with-retry 3 "${GCLOUD}" ${CMD_GROUP:-} container clusters delete --project="${PROJECT}" \
-      --zone="${ZONE}" "${CLUSTER_NAME}" --quiet
+  if "${GCLOUD}" ${CMD_GROUP:-} container clusters describe ${SCOPE_ARGS[@]} "${CLUSTER_NAME}" --quiet &>/dev/null; then
+    with-retry 3 "${GCLOUD}" ${CMD_GROUP:-} container clusters delete ${SCOPE_ARGS[@]} \
+      "${CLUSTER_NAME}" --quiet
   fi
 }
diff --git a/hack/ginkgo-e2e.sh b/hack/ginkgo-e2e.sh
index c6dd4a693eb..051db280e58 100755
--- a/hack/ginkgo-e2e.sh
+++ b/hack/ginkgo-e2e.sh
@@ -136,6 +136,7 @@ export PATH=$(dirname "${e2e_test}"):"${PATH}"
   --provider="${KUBERNETES_PROVIDER}" \
   --gce-project="${PROJECT:-}" \
   --gce-zone="${ZONE:-}" \
+  --gce-region="${REGION:-}" \
   --gce-multizone="${MULTIZONE:-false}" \
   --gke-cluster="${CLUSTER_NAME:-}" \
   --kube-master="${KUBE_MASTER:-}" \
diff --git a/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt b/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
index b06f95b318a..3d29834e7f2 100644
--- a/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
+++ b/hack/verify-flags/known-flags.txt
@@ -303,6 +303,7 @@ gather-suite-metrics-at-teardown
 gce-api-endpoint
 gce-multizone
 gce-project
+gce-region
 gce-service-account
 gce-upgrade-script
 gce-zone
diff --git a/test/e2e/e2e.go b/test/e2e/e2e.go
index 7eb8a578637..6400fc544ff 100644
--- a/test/e2e/e2e.go
+++ b/test/e2e/e2e.go
@@ -65,9 +65,13 @@ func setupProviderConfig() error {
 		var err error
 		framework.Logf("Fetching cloud provider for %q\r\n", framework.TestContext.Provider)
 		zone := framework.TestContext.CloudConfig.Zone
-		region, err := gcecloud.GetGCERegion(zone)
-		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("error parsing GCE/GKE region from zone %q: %v", zone, err)
+		region := framework.TestContext.CloudConfig.Region
+
+		if region == "" {
+			region, err = gcecloud.GetGCERegion(zone)
+			if err != nil {
+				return fmt.Errorf("error parsing GCE/GKE region from zone %q: %v", zone, err)
+			}
 		}
 		managedZones := []string{} // Manage all zones in the region
 		if !framework.TestContext.CloudConfig.MultiZone {
diff --git a/test/e2e/framework/test_context.go b/test/e2e/framework/test_context.go
index 9969fc2f9e6..6099e75cdc3 100644
--- a/test/e2e/framework/test_context.go
+++ b/test/e2e/framework/test_context.go
@@ -145,6 +145,7 @@ type CloudConfig struct {
 	ApiEndpoint       string
 	ProjectID         string
 	Zone              string
+	Region            string
 	MultiZone         bool
 	Cluster           string
 	MasterName        string
@@ -221,6 +222,7 @@ func RegisterClusterFlags() {
 	flag.StringVar(&cloudConfig.ApiEndpoint, "gce-api-endpoint", "", "The GCE ApiEndpoint being used, if applicable")
 	flag.StringVar(&cloudConfig.ProjectID, "gce-project", "", "The GCE project being used, if applicable")
 	flag.StringVar(&cloudConfig.Zone, "gce-zone", "", "GCE zone being used, if applicable")
+	flag.StringVar(&cloudConfig.Region, "gce-region", "", "GCE region being used, if applicable")
 	flag.BoolVar(&cloudConfig.MultiZone, "gce-multizone", false, "If true, start GCE cloud provider with multizone support.")
 	flag.StringVar(&cloudConfig.Cluster, "gke-cluster", "", "GKE name of cluster being used, if applicable")
 	flag.StringVar(&cloudConfig.NodeInstanceGroup, "node-instance-group", "", "Name of the managed instance group for nodes. Valid only for gce, gke or aws. If there is more than one group: comma separated list of groups.")