diff --git a/iroh-relay/src/relay_map.rs b/iroh-relay/src/relay_map.rs
index 355c3dc8f2..48c0cec8f5 100644
--- a/iroh-relay/src/relay_map.rs
+++ b/iroh-relay/src/relay_map.rs
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ use std::{
     sync::{Arc, RwLock},
 };
 
-use iroh_base::RelayUrl;
+use iroh_base::{RelayUrl, RelayUrlParseError};
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
 
 use crate::defaults::DEFAULT_RELAY_QUIC_PORT;
@@ -50,6 +50,32 @@ impl RelayMap {
         }
     }
 
+    /// Creates a [`RelayMap`] from an iterator.
+    ///
+    /// The conversion from a URL to a [`RelayConfig`] is done the same as when parsing it directly,
+    /// which means it is assumed to run QUIC on default settings as defined in [`RelayQuicConfig::default`].
+    ///
+    /// # Example
+    /// ```rust
+    /// # use iroh_relay::RelayMap;
+    /// let map =
+    ///     RelayMap::try_from_iter(["https://relay_0.cool.com", "https://relay_1.cool.com"]).unwrap();
+    /// ```
+    pub fn try_from_iter<'a, T: IntoIterator<Item = &'a str>>(
+        urls: T,
+    ) -> Result<Self, RelayUrlParseError> {
+        let relays: BTreeMap<RelayUrl, Arc<RelayConfig>> = urls
+            .into_iter()
+            .map(|t| {
+                t.parse()
+                    .map(|url: RelayUrl| (url.clone(), Arc::new(RelayConfig::from(url))))
+            })
+            .collect::<Result<_, _>>()?;
+        Ok(Self {
+            relays: Arc::new(RwLock::new(relays)),
+        })
+    }
+
     /// Returns the URLs of all servers in this relay map.
     ///
     /// This function is generic over the container to collect into. If you simply want a list
@@ -214,6 +240,8 @@ fn quic_config() -> Option<RelayQuicConfig> {
 
 /// Configuration for speaking to the QUIC endpoint on the relay
 /// server to do QUIC address discovery.
+///
+/// Defaults to using [`DEFAULT_RELAY_QUIC_PORT`].
 #[derive(Debug, Deserialize, Serialize, Clone, Eq, PartialEq, PartialOrd, Ord)]
 pub struct RelayQuicConfig {
     /// The port on which the connection should be bound to.
diff --git a/iroh/src/endpoint.rs b/iroh/src/endpoint.rs
index d6ef7950b1..8ee64b589d 100644
--- a/iroh/src/endpoint.rs
+++ b/iroh/src/endpoint.rs
@@ -1260,6 +1260,24 @@ impl RelayMode {
             RelayMode::Custom(relay_map) => relay_map.clone(),
         }
     }
+
+    /// Create a custom relay mode from a list of [`RelayUrl`]s.
+    ///
+    /// # Example
+    ///
+    /// ```
+    /// # fn main() -> n0_error::Result<()> {
+    /// # use iroh::RelayMode;
+    /// RelayMode::custom([
+    ///     "https://use1-1.relay.n0.iroh-canary.iroh.link.".parse()?,
+    ///     "https://euw-1.relay.n0.iroh-canary.iroh.link.".parse()?,
+    /// ]);
+    /// # Ok(()) }
+    /// ```
+    pub fn custom(map: impl IntoIterator<Item = RelayUrl>) -> Self {
+        let m = RelayMap::from_iter(map);
+        Self::Custom(m)
+    }
 }
 
 /// Environment variable to force the use of staging relays.
@@ -1294,9 +1312,12 @@ fn is_cgi() -> bool {
 // https://github.com/n0-computer/iroh/issues/1183
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
-    use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
+    use std::{
+        str::FromStr,
+        time::{Duration, Instant},
+    };
 
-    use iroh_base::{EndpointAddr, EndpointId, SecretKey, TransportAddr};
+    use iroh_base::{EndpointAddr, EndpointId, RelayUrl, SecretKey, TransportAddr};
     use n0_error::{AnyError as Error, Result, StdResultExt};
     use n0_future::{BufferedStreamExt, StreamExt, stream, time};
     use n0_watcher::Watcher;
@@ -2450,4 +2471,23 @@ mod tests {
         assert!(dt0 / dt1 < 20.0, "First round: {dt0}s, second round {dt1}s");
         Ok(())
     }
+
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn test_custom_relay() -> Result {
+        let _ep = Endpoint::empty_builder(RelayMode::custom([RelayUrl::from_str(
+            "https://use1-1.relay.n0.iroh-canary.iroh.link.",
+        )?]))
+        .bind()
+        .await?;
+
+        let relays = RelayMap::try_from_iter([
+            "https://use1-1.relay.n0.iroh.iroh.link/",
+            "https://euc1-1.relay.n0.iroh.iroh.link/",
+        ])?;
+        let _ep = Endpoint::empty_builder(RelayMode::Custom(relays))
+            .bind()
+            .await?;
+
+        Ok(())
+    }
 }