diff --git a/ip.h b/ip.h
index b9aedf6..b8d4a5b 100644
--- a/ip.h
+++ b/ip.h
@@ -24,6 +24,11 @@
 #define IN4ADDR_ANY_INIT \
 	{ .s_addr	= htonl_constant(INADDR_ANY) }
 
+#define IN4_IS_ADDR_LINKLOCAL(a)					\
+	((ntohl(((struct in_addr *)(a))->s_addr) >> 16) == 0xa9fe)
+#define IN4_IS_PREFIX_LINKLOCAL(a, len)					\
+	((len) >= 16 && IN4_IS_ADDR_LINKLOCAL(a))
+
 #define L2_BUF_IP4_INIT(proto)						\
 	{								\
 		.version	= 4,					\
@@ -40,6 +45,10 @@
 #define L2_BUF_IP4_PSUM(proto)	((uint32_t)htons_constant(0x4500) +	\
 				 (uint32_t)htons(0xff00 | (proto)))
 
+
+#define IN6_IS_PREFIX_LINKLOCAL(a, len)					\
+	((len) >= 10 && IN6_IS_ADDR_LINKLOCAL(a))
+
 #define L2_BUF_IP6_INIT(proto)						\
 	{								\
 		.priority	= 0,					\
diff --git a/netlink.c b/netlink.c
index 0549237..89c0641 100644
--- a/netlink.c
+++ b/netlink.c
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 #include "util.h"
 #include "passt.h"
 #include "log.h"
+#include "ip.h"
 #include "netlink.h"
 
 /* Netlink expects a buffer of at least 8kiB or the system page size,
@@ -270,6 +271,7 @@ unsigned int nl_get_ext_if(int s, sa_family_t af)
 	seq = nl_send(s, &req, RTM_GETROUTE, NLM_F_DUMP, sizeof(req));
 	nl_foreach_oftype(nh, status, s, buf, seq, RTM_NEWROUTE) {
 		struct rtmsg *rtm = (struct rtmsg *)NLMSG_DATA(nh);
+		const void *dst = NULL;
 		unsigned thisifi = 0;
 
 		if (rtm->rtm_family != af)
@@ -284,12 +286,23 @@ unsigned int nl_get_ext_if(int s, sa_family_t af)
 
 				rtnh = (struct rtnexthop *)RTA_DATA(rta);
 				thisifi = rtnh->rtnh_ifindex;
+			} else if (rta->rta_type == RTA_DST) {
+				dst = RTA_DATA(rta);
 			}
 		}
 
 		if (!thisifi)
 			continue; /* No interface for this route */
 
+		/* Skip routes to link-local addresses */
+		if (af == AF_INET && dst &&
+		    IN4_IS_PREFIX_LINKLOCAL(dst, rtm->rtm_dst_len))
+			continue;
+
+		if (af == AF_INET6 && dst &&
+		    IN6_IS_PREFIX_LINKLOCAL(dst, rtm->rtm_dst_len))
+			continue;
+
 		if (rtm->rtm_dst_len == 0) {
 			/* Default route */
 			ndef++;
@@ -322,7 +335,7 @@ unsigned int nl_get_ext_if(int s, sa_family_t af)
 	}
 
 	if (!nany)
-		info("No interfaces with %s routes", af_name(af));
+		info("No interfaces with usable %s routes", af_name(af));
 
 	return 0;
 }