diff --git a/pkg/cluster/internal/providers/podman/network.go b/pkg/cluster/internal/providers/podman/network.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..242923b1b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/cluster/internal/providers/podman/network.go
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2020 The Kubernetes Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package podman
+
+import (
+	"crypto/sha1"
+	"encoding/binary"
+	"net"
+	"regexp"
+	"strings"
+
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kind/pkg/errors"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/kind/pkg/exec"
+)
+
+// This may be overridden by KIND_EXPERIMENTAL_PODMAN_NETWORK env,
+// experimentally...
+//
+// By default currently picking a single network is equivalent to the previous
+// behavior *except* that we moved from the default bridge to a user defined
+// network because the default bridge is actually special versus any other
+// docker network and lacks the emebdded DNS
+//
+// For now this also makes it easier for apps to join the same network, and
+// leaves users with complex networking desires to create and manage their own
+// networks.
+const fixedNetworkName = "kind"
+
+// ensureNetwork creates a new network
+// podman only creates IPv6 networks for versions >= 2.2.0
+func ensureNetwork(name string) error {
+	// network already exists
+	if checkIfNetworkExists(name) {
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	// generate unique subnet per network based on the name
+	// obtained from the ULA fc00::/8 range
+	// Make N attempts with "probing" in case we happen to collide
+	subnet := generateULASubnetFromName(name, 0)
+	err := createNetwork(name, subnet)
+	if err == nil {
+		// Success!
+		return nil
+	}
+
+	if isUnknownIPv6FlagError(err) {
+		return createNetwork(name, "")
+	}
+
+	// Only continue if the error is because of the subnet range
+	// is already allocated
+	if !isPoolOverlapError(err) {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	// keep trying for ipv6 subnets
+	const maxAttempts = 5
+	for attempt := int32(1); attempt < maxAttempts; attempt++ {
+		subnet := generateULASubnetFromName(name, attempt)
+		err = createNetwork(name, subnet)
+		if err == nil {
+			// success!
+			return nil
+		} else if !isPoolOverlapError(err) {
+			// unknown error ...
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return errors.New("exhausted attempts trying to find a non-overlapping subnet")
+
+}
+
+func createNetwork(name, ipv6Subnet string) error {
+	if ipv6Subnet == "" {
+		return exec.Command("podman", "network", "create", "-d=bridge", name).Run()
+	}
+	return exec.Command("podman", "network", "create", "-d=bridge",
+		"--ipv6", "--subnet", ipv6Subnet, name).Run()
+}
+
+func checkIfNetworkExists(name string) bool {
+	_, err := exec.Output(exec.Command(
+		"podman", "network", "inspect",
+		regexp.QuoteMeta(name),
+	))
+	return err == nil
+}
+
+func deleteNetworks(networks ...string) error {
+	return exec.Command("podman", append([]string{"network", "rm"}, networks...)...).Run()
+}
+
+func isPoolOverlapError(err error) bool {
+	rerr := exec.RunErrorForError(err)
+	return rerr != nil &&
+		strings.Contains(string(rerr.Output), "unknown flag: --ipv6")
+}
+
+func isUnknownIPv6FlagError(err error) bool {
+	rerr := exec.RunErrorForError(err)
+	return rerr != nil &&
+		(strings.Contains(string(rerr.Output), "is being used by a network interface") ||
+			strings.Contains(string(rerr.Output), "is already being used by a cni configuration"))
+}
+
+// generateULASubnetFromName generate an IPv6 subnet based on the
+// name and Nth probing attempt
+func generateULASubnetFromName(name string, attempt int32) string {
+	ip := make([]byte, 16)
+	ip[0] = 0xfc
+	ip[1] = 0x00
+	h := sha1.New()
+	_, _ = h.Write([]byte(name))
+	_ = binary.Write(h, binary.LittleEndian, attempt)
+	bs := h.Sum(nil)
+	for i := 2; i < 8; i++ {
+		ip[i] = bs[i]
+	}
+	subnet := &net.IPNet{
+		IP:   net.IP(ip),
+		Mask: net.CIDRMask(64, 128),
+	}
+	return subnet.String()
+}
diff --git a/pkg/cluster/internal/providers/podman/provider.go b/pkg/cluster/internal/providers/podman/provider.go
index 65c35d7047..83d0e78765 100644
--- a/pkg/cluster/internal/providers/podman/provider.go
+++ b/pkg/cluster/internal/providers/podman/provider.go
@@ -79,13 +79,24 @@ func (p *provider) Provision(status *cli.Status, cfg *config.Cluster) (err error
 		return err
 	}
 
+	// ensure the pre-requesite network exists
+	networkName := fixedNetworkName
+	if n := os.Getenv("KIND_EXPERIMENTAL_PODMAN_NETWORK"); n != "" {
+		p.logger.Warn("WARNING: Overriding podman network due to KIND_EXPERIMENTAL_PODMAN_NETWORK")
+		p.logger.Warn("WARNING: Here be dragons! This is not supported currently.")
+		networkName = n
+	}
+	if err := ensureNetwork(networkName); err != nil {
+		return errors.Wrap(err, "failed to ensure podman network")
+	}
+
 	// actually provision the cluster
 	icons := strings.Repeat("📦 ", len(cfg.Nodes))
 	status.Start(fmt.Sprintf("Preparing nodes %s", icons))
 	defer func() { status.End(err == nil) }()
 
 	// plan creating the containers
-	createContainerFuncs, err := planCreation(cfg)
+	createContainerFuncs, err := planCreation(cfg, networkName)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -247,14 +258,8 @@ func (p *provider) GetAPIServerInternalEndpoint(cluster string) (string, error)
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", errors.Wrap(err, "failed to get apiserver endpoint")
 	}
-	// TODO: check cluster IP family and return the correct IP
-	// This means IPv6 singlestack is broken on podman
-	ipv4, _, err := n.IP()
-	if err != nil {
-		return "", errors.Wrap(err, "failed to get apiserver IP")
-	}
-	return net.JoinHostPort(ipv4, fmt.Sprintf("%d", common.APIServerInternalPort)), nil
-
+	// NOTE: we're using the nodes's hostnames which are their names
+	return net.JoinHostPort(n.String(), fmt.Sprintf("%d", common.APIServerInternalPort)), nil
 }
 
 // node returns a new node handle for this provider
diff --git a/pkg/cluster/internal/providers/podman/provision.go b/pkg/cluster/internal/providers/podman/provision.go
index 8e4d75ffef..47577d3e56 100644
--- a/pkg/cluster/internal/providers/podman/provision.go
+++ b/pkg/cluster/internal/providers/podman/provision.go
@@ -32,10 +32,10 @@ import (
 )
 
 // planCreation creates a slice of funcs that will create the containers
-func planCreation(cfg *config.Cluster) (createContainerFuncs []func() error, err error) {
+func planCreation(cfg *config.Cluster, networkName string) (createContainerFuncs []func() error, err error) {
 	// these apply to all container creation
 	nodeNamer := common.MakeNodeNamer(cfg.Name)
-	genericArgs, err := commonArgs(cfg)
+	genericArgs, err := commonArgs(cfg, networkName)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -135,11 +135,12 @@ func clusterHasImplicitLoadBalancer(cfg *config.Cluster) bool {
 }
 
 // commonArgs computes static arguments that apply to all containers
-func commonArgs(cfg *config.Cluster) ([]string, error) {
+func commonArgs(cfg *config.Cluster, networkName string) ([]string, error) {
 	// standard arguments all nodes containers need, computed once
 	args := []string{
-		"--detach", // run the container detached
-		"--tty",    // allocate a tty for entrypoint logs
+		"--detach",           // run the container detached
+		"--tty",              // allocate a tty for entrypoint logs
+		"--net", networkName, // attach to its own network
 		// label the node with the cluster ID
 		"--label", fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s", clusterLabelKey, cfg.Name),
 	}