diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/IntegrationTestEnv.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/IntegrationTestEnv.java
index 687bb44ba1..103b6f626b 100644
--- a/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/IntegrationTestEnv.java
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/IntegrationTestEnv.java
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkState;
 
 import com.google.api.gax.longrunning.OperationFuture;
+import com.google.cloud.spanner.testing.EmulatorSpannerHelper;
 import com.google.cloud.spanner.testing.RemoteSpannerHelper;
 import com.google.common.collect.Iterators;
 import com.google.spanner.admin.instance.v1.CreateInstanceMetadata;
@@ -165,6 +166,20 @@ private void cleanUpInstance() {
       if (isOwnedInstance) {
         // Delete the instance, which implicitly drops all databases in it.
         try {
+          if (!EmulatorSpannerHelper.isUsingEmulator()) {
+            // Backups must be explicitly deleted before the instance may be deleted.
+            logger.log(
+                Level.FINE, "Deleting backups on test instance {0}", testHelper.getInstanceId());
+            for (Backup backup :
+                testHelper
+                    .getClient()
+                    .getDatabaseAdminClient()
+                    .listBackups(testHelper.getInstanceId().getInstance())
+                    .iterateAll()) {
+              logger.log(Level.FINE, "Deleting backup {0}", backup.getId());
+              backup.delete();
+            }
+          }
           logger.log(Level.FINE, "Deleting test instance {0}", testHelper.getInstanceId());
           instanceAdminClient.deleteInstance(testHelper.getInstanceId().getInstance());
           logger.log(Level.INFO, "Deleted test instance {0}", testHelper.getInstanceId());