diff --git a/CHANGELOG.rst b/CHANGELOG.rst
index 068be2e048..e50efcc659 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.rst
+++ b/CHANGELOG.rst
@@ -20,6 +20,12 @@ Features
 
 Others
 ------
+* Token-aware routing now caches the "no keyspace metadata" result per keyspace
+  instead of retrying the token map lookup on every query. This mainly benefits
+  ``schema_metadata_enabled=False``: the driver never fetches replication
+  strategies while schema metadata stays disabled, and cleanly falls back to
+  the child load-balancing policy (e.g. round robin) for that keyspace, as
+  documented for that setting.
 * The ``STARTUP`` options that describe the driver itself are no longer the
   application's to set. An ``ApplicationInfoBase.add_startup_options`` that sets
   ``DRIVER_NAME``, ``DRIVER_VERSION``, ``SESSION_ID`` or ``DRIVER_CONFIG`` now has that
diff --git a/cassandra/metadata.py b/cassandra/metadata.py
index 0cb17e1337..e175db95de 100644
--- a/cassandra/metadata.py
+++ b/cassandra/metadata.py
@@ -1852,6 +1852,12 @@ def rebuild_keyspace(self, keyspace, build_if_absent=False):
                     if ks_meta:
                         replica_map = self.replica_map_for_keyspace(self._metadata.keyspaces[keyspace])
                         self.tokens_to_hosts_by_ks[keyspace] = replica_map
+                    elif build_if_absent:
+                        # No keyspace metadata (e.g. schema_metadata_enabled=False):
+                        # cache the empty result so token-aware routing cleanly
+                        # falls back to the child load-balancing policy instead
+                        # of retrying this lookup on every query.
+                        self.tokens_to_hosts_by_ks[keyspace] = {}
             except Exception:
                 # should not happen normally, but we don't want to blow up queries because of unexpected meta state
                 # bypass until new map is generated
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_metadata.py b/tests/unit/test_metadata.py
index 2a1fced6cf..84cf7a97a0 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_metadata.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_metadata.py
@@ -447,6 +447,45 @@ def test_bytes_tokens(self):
         self._get_replicas(BytesToken)
 
 
+class TokenMapNoKeyspaceMetadataTest(unittest.TestCase):
+    """
+    Token-aware routing must fall back cleanly (no crash, empty replica list)
+    for a keyspace whose metadata is unavailable, e.g. because
+    ``schema_metadata_enabled=False``.
+    """
+
+    def _token_map(self):
+        token_klass = Murmur3Token
+        tokens = [token_klass(i) for i in range(0, (2 ** 127 - 1), 2 ** 125)]
+        hosts = [Host("ip%d" % i, SimpleConvictionPolicy, datacenter="dc1", rack="rack1", host_id=uuid.uuid4())
+                 for i in range(len(tokens))]
+        token_to_primary_replica = dict(zip(tokens, hosts))
+        metadata = Mock(spec=Metadata, keyspaces={})
+        return TokenMap(token_klass, token_to_primary_replica, tokens, metadata), tokens[0]
+
+    def test_get_replicas_is_empty_without_keyspace_metadata(self):
+        token_map, token = self._token_map()
+
+        assert token_map.get_replicas("ks", token) == []
+
+    def test_missing_keyspace_result_is_cached(self):
+        """rebuild_keyspace should not repeatedly try to build a map that
+        will never succeed without keyspace metadata."""
+        token_map, token = self._token_map()
+
+        token_map.get_replicas("ks", token)
+        assert token_map.tokens_to_hosts_by_ks.get("ks") == {}
+
+        # a later call with build_if_absent=False (as done by schema-change
+        # handlers) should re-check for the keyspace, self-healing once
+        # metadata becomes available again
+        keyspace = KeyspaceMetadata("ks", True, "NetworkTopologyStrategy", {"dc1": "1"})
+        token_map._metadata.keyspaces = {"ks": keyspace}
+        token_map.rebuild_keyspace("ks", build_if_absent=False)
+
+        assert token_map.tokens_to_hosts_by_ks.get("ks")
+
+
 class DropTableMetadataTest(unittest.TestCase):
     """Metadata._drop_table should invalidate tablets for the dropped table."""
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_policies.py b/tests/unit/test_policies.py
index 35c1a96f87..932c3dd112 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_policies.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_policies.py
@@ -605,6 +605,30 @@ def get_replicas(keyspace, packed_key):
 
             assert sorted(set(qplan)) == sorted(set(hosts))
 
+    def test_falls_back_to_child_policy_without_keyspace_metadata(self):
+        """
+        With schema_metadata_enabled=False the driver has no replica
+        information, so Metadata.get_replicas() returns []. TokenAwarePolicy
+        must fall back to the child policy's plan rather than raise or
+        return an incomplete/wrong plan.
+        """
+        cluster = Mock(spec=Cluster)
+        cluster.metadata = Mock(spec=Metadata)
+        cluster.metadata._tablets = Mock(spec=Tablets)
+        cluster.metadata._tablets.get_tablet_for_key.return_value = None
+        cluster.metadata.get_replicas.return_value = []
+        hosts = [Host(DefaultEndPoint(str(i)), SimpleConvictionPolicy, host_id=uuid.uuid4()) for i in range(4)]
+        for host in hosts:
+            host.set_up()
+
+        policy = TokenAwarePolicy(RoundRobinPolicy())
+        policy.populate(cluster, hosts)
+
+        query = Statement(routing_key=struct.pack('>i', 0), keyspace='keyspace_name')
+        qplan = list(policy.make_query_plan(None, query))
+
+        assert sorted(qplan) == sorted(hosts)
+
     def test_wrap_dc_aware(self):
         cluster = Mock(spec=Cluster)
         cluster.metadata = Mock(spec=Metadata)