diff --git a/lib/vagrant/errors.rb b/lib/vagrant/errors.rb
index 9665eecea..3822786e0 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/errors.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/errors.rb
@@ -374,6 +374,10 @@ module Vagrant
       error_key(:ssh_disconnected)
     end
 
+    class SSHHostDown < VagrantError
+      error_key(:ssh_host_down)
+    end
+
     class SSHKeyBadPermissions < VagrantError
       status_code(12)
       error_key(:ssh_key_bad_permissions)
diff --git a/plugins/communicators/ssh/communicator.rb b/plugins/communicators/ssh/communicator.rb
index 24ee55eb7..a38d8e0ce 100644
--- a/plugins/communicators/ssh/communicator.rb
+++ b/plugins/communicators/ssh/communicator.rb
@@ -184,6 +184,9 @@ module VagrantPlugins
         rescue Errno::ECONNREFUSED
           # This is raised if we failed to connect the max amount of times
           raise Vagrant::Errors::SSHConnectionRefused
+        rescue Errno::EHOSTDOWN
+          # This is raised if we get an ICMP DestinationUnknown error.
+          raise Vagrant::Errors::SSHHostDown
         rescue NotImplementedError
           # This is raised if a private key type that Net-SSH doesn't support
           # is used. Show a nicer error.
diff --git a/templates/locales/en.yml b/templates/locales/en.yml
index f8dbb3582..f9a4603eb 100644
--- a/templates/locales/en.yml
+++ b/templates/locales/en.yml
@@ -201,6 +201,10 @@ en:
         usually indicates that SSH within the guest machine was unable to
         properly start up. Please boot the VM in GUI mode to check whether
         it is booting properly.
+      ssh_host_down: |-
+        While attempting to connect with SSH, a "host is down" (EHOSTDOWN)
+        error was received. Please verify your SSH settings are correct
+        and try again.
       ssh_key_bad_permissions: |-
         The private key to connect to this box via SSH has invalid permissions
         set on it. The permissions of the private key should be set to 0600, otherwise SSH will