diff --git a/spanner/client.go b/spanner/client.go
index fcba322ac1d..afa35315e29 100644
--- a/spanner/client.go
+++ b/spanner/client.go
@@ -234,7 +234,9 @@ func getQueryOptions(opts QueryOptions) QueryOptions {
 // Close closes the client.
 func (c *Client) Close() {
 	if c.idleSessions != nil {
-		c.idleSessions.close()
+		ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 5*time.Second)
+		defer cancel()
+		c.idleSessions.close(ctx)
 	}
 	c.sc.close()
 }
diff --git a/spanner/client_test.go b/spanner/client_test.go
index 8a2504706ac..c7ec16bc535 100644
--- a/spanner/client_test.go
+++ b/spanner/client_test.go
@@ -2367,3 +2367,36 @@ func TestClient_Single_Read_WithNumericKey(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("row count mismatch\nGot: %v\nWant: %v", rowCount, SelectSingerIDAlbumIDAlbumTitleFromAlbumsRowCount)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestClient_CloseWithUnresponsiveBackend(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	minOpened := uint64(5)
+	server, client, teardown := setupMockedTestServerWithConfig(t,
+		ClientConfig{
+			SessionPoolConfig: SessionPoolConfig{
+				MinOpened: minOpened,
+			},
+		})
+	defer teardown()
+	sp := client.idleSessions
+
+	waitFor(t, func() error {
+		sp.mu.Lock()
+		defer sp.mu.Unlock()
+		if uint64(sp.idleList.Len()) != minOpened {
+			return fmt.Errorf("num open sessions mismatch\nWant: %d\nGot: %d", sp.MinOpened, sp.numOpened)
+		}
+		return nil
+	})
+	server.TestSpanner.Freeze()
+	defer server.TestSpanner.Unfreeze()
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 10*time.Millisecond)
+	defer cancel()
+	sp.close(ctx)
+
+	if w, g := context.DeadlineExceeded, ctx.Err(); w != g {
+		t.Fatalf("context error mismatch\nWant: %v\nGot: %v", w, g)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/spanner/session.go b/spanner/session.go
index 00199cac6a5..d577fca5510 100644
--- a/spanner/session.go
+++ b/spanner/session.go
@@ -328,6 +328,12 @@ func (s *session) recycle() {
 // destroy removes the session from its home session pool, healthcheck queue
 // and Cloud Spanner service.
 func (s *session) destroy(isExpire bool) bool {
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 15*time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+	return s.destroyWithContext(ctx, isExpire)
+}
+
+func (s *session) destroyWithContext(ctx context.Context, isExpire bool) bool {
 	// Remove s from session pool.
 	if !s.pool.remove(s, isExpire) {
 		return false
@@ -335,8 +341,6 @@ func (s *session) destroy(isExpire bool) bool {
 	// Unregister s from healthcheck queue.
 	s.pool.hc.unregister(s)
 	// Remove s from Cloud Spanner service.
-	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 15*time.Second)
-	defer cancel()
 	s.delete(ctx)
 	return true
 }
@@ -345,7 +349,9 @@ func (s *session) delete(ctx context.Context) {
 	// Ignore the error because even if we fail to explicitly destroy the
 	// session, it will be eventually garbage collected by Cloud Spanner.
 	err := s.client.DeleteSession(contextWithOutgoingMetadata(ctx, s.md), &sppb.DeleteSessionRequest{Name: s.getID()})
-	if err != nil {
+	// Do not DeadlineExceeded errors when deleting sessions, as these do not
+	// indicate anything the user can or should act upon.
+	if err != nil && ErrCode(err) != codes.DeadlineExceeded {
 		logf(s.logger, "Failed to delete session %v. Error: %v", s.getID(), err)
 	}
 }
@@ -725,8 +731,11 @@ func (p *sessionPool) isValid() bool {
 	return p.valid
 }
 
-// close marks the session pool as closed.
-func (p *sessionPool) close() {
+// close marks the session pool as closed and deletes all sessions in parallel.
+// Any errors that are returned by the Delete RPC are logged but otherwise
+// ignored, except for DeadlineExceeded errors, which are ignored and not
+// logged.
+func (p *sessionPool) close(ctx context.Context) {
 	if p == nil {
 		return
 	}
@@ -743,9 +752,17 @@ func (p *sessionPool) close() {
 	allSessions := make([]*session, len(p.hc.queue.sessions))
 	copy(allSessions, p.hc.queue.sessions)
 	p.hc.mu.Unlock()
+	wg := sync.WaitGroup{}
 	for _, s := range allSessions {
-		s.destroy(false)
+		wg.Add(1)
+		go deleteSession(s, ctx, &wg)
 	}
+	wg.Wait()
+}
+
+func deleteSession(s *session, ctx context.Context, wg *sync.WaitGroup) {
+	defer wg.Done()
+	s.destroyWithContext(ctx, false)
 }
 
 // errInvalidSessionPool is the error for using an invalid session pool.
diff --git a/spanner/session_test.go b/spanner/session_test.go
index 4f4fdfc1a1e..d8e523c86a6 100644
--- a/spanner/session_test.go
+++ b/spanner/session_test.go
@@ -1355,7 +1355,7 @@ func TestSessionHealthCheck(t *testing.T) {
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("cannot get session from session pool: %v", err)
 	}
-	sp.close()
+	sp.close(context.Background())
 	if sh.session.isValid() {
 		t.Fatalf("session(%v) is still alive, want it to be garbage collected", s)
 	}
@@ -1454,7 +1454,7 @@ func TestStressSessionPool(t *testing.T) {
 				t.Fatalf("%v: session in healthcheck queue (%v) was not found on server", ti, id)
 			}
 		}
-		sp.close()
+		sp.close(context.Background())
 		mockSessions = server.TestSpanner.DumpSessions()
 		for id, b := range hcSessions {
 			if b && mockSessions[id] {
@@ -1477,7 +1477,7 @@ func testStressSessionPool(t *testing.T, cfg SessionPoolConfig, ti int, idx int,
 		if idx%10 == 0 && j >= 900 {
 			// Close the pool in selected set of workers during the
 			// middle of the test.
-			pool.close()
+			pool.close(context.Background())
 		}
 		// Take a write sessions ~ 20% of the times.
 		takeWrite := rand.Intn(5) == 4