diff --git a/scylla/tests/ccm_integration/default_policy.rs b/scylla/tests/ccm_integration/default_policy.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d58f887ee3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scylla/tests/ccm_integration/default_policy.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,243 @@
+use crate::common::utils::{
+    scylla_supports_tablets, setup_tracing, test_with_3_node_cluster, unique_keyspace_name, create_new_session_builder,
+    PerformDDL,
+};
+use scylla::client::execution_profile::ExecutionProfile;
+use scylla::policies::load_balancing::{DefaultPolicy, LatencyAwarenessBuilder, LoadBalancingPolicy};
+use scylla::policies::retry::FallthroughRetryPolicy;
+use scylla::client::session::Session;
+use scylla_cql::frame::protocol_features::ProtocolFeatures;
+use scylla_cql::frame::types;
+use std::sync::Arc;
+use tokio::sync::mpsc;
+
+use scylla_proxy::{
+    Condition, ProxyError, Reaction, RequestFrame, RequestOpcode, RequestReaction, RequestRule,
+    ResponseOpcode, ResponseReaction, ResponseRule, ShardAwareness, TargetShard, WorkerError,
+};
+
+async fn test_query_routed_according_to_policy(policy: Arc<dyn LoadBalancingPolicy>, tablets_enabled: bool, _running_nodes_amount: i32) {
+    // Test that DefaultPolicy was as expected for LWT and regular queries for tablets and vnodes
+    // policy: DefaultPolicy object defined according to test
+    // supports_tablets: True (tablets test) / False (vnodes test)
+    // running_nodes_amount: cluster state - how much alive nodes (maximum is 3)
+    use scylla::client::session_builder::SessionBuilder;
+    setup_tracing();
+
+    // This is just to increase the likelihood that only intended prepared statements (which contain this mark) are captured by the proxy.
+    const MAGIC_MARK: i32 = 123;
+
+    let res = test_with_3_node_cluster(ShardAwareness::QueryNode, |proxy_uris, translation_map, mut running_proxy| async move {
+
+        // We set up proxy, so that it informs us (via supported_rx) about cluster's Supported features (including LWT optimisation mark),
+        // and also passes us information about which node was queried (via prepared_rx).
+
+        let (supported_tx, mut supported_rx) = mpsc::unbounded_channel();
+
+        running_proxy.running_nodes[0].change_response_rules(Some(vec![ResponseRule(
+            Condition::ResponseOpcode(ResponseOpcode::Supported),
+            ResponseReaction::noop().with_feedback_when_performed(supported_tx)
+        )]));
+
+        let prepared_rule = |tx| RequestRule(
+            Condition::and(Condition::RequestOpcode(RequestOpcode::Execute), Condition::BodyContainsCaseSensitive(Box::new(MAGIC_MARK.to_be_bytes()))),
+            RequestReaction::noop().with_feedback_when_performed(tx)
+        );
+
+        let mut prepared_rxs = [0, 1, 2].map(|i| {
+            let (prepared_tx, prepared_rx) = mpsc::unbounded_channel();
+            running_proxy.running_nodes[i].change_request_rules(Some(vec![prepared_rule(prepared_tx)]));
+            prepared_rx
+        });
+
+        let handle = ExecutionProfile::builder()
+            .load_balancing_policy(policy)
+            .retry_policy(Arc::new(FallthroughRetryPolicy))
+            .build()
+            .into_handle();
+
+        // DB preparation phase
+        let session: Session = SessionBuilder::new()
+            .known_node(proxy_uris[0].as_str())
+            .default_execution_profile_handle(handle)
+            .address_translator(Arc::new(translation_map))
+            .build()
+            .await
+            .unwrap();
+
+        let (supported_frame, _shard) = supported_rx.recv().await.unwrap();
+        let supported_options = types::read_string_multimap(&mut &*supported_frame.body).unwrap();
+        let supported_features = ProtocolFeatures::parse_from_supported(&supported_options);
+
+        // This will branch our test for cases both when cluster supports the optimisations and when it does not.
+        let supports_optimisation_mark = supported_features.lwt_optimization_meta_bit_mask.is_some();
+
+        // Create schema
+        let ks = unique_keyspace_name();
+
+        // Enable or disable tablets for the keyspace
+        let mut tablets_clause = "";
+        if scylla_supports_tablets(&session).await{
+            if tablets_enabled{
+                tablets_clause =  " AND tablets = {'enabled': true}";
+            } else{
+                tablets_clause =  " AND tablets = {'enabled': false}";
+            }
+        }
+        
+        let create_ks = format!("CREATE KEYSPACE IF NOT EXISTS {} WITH REPLICATION = {{'class' : 'NetworkTopologyStrategy', 'replication_factor' : 3}}{}", ks, tablets_clause);
+        
+        session.ddl(create_ks).await.unwrap();
+        session.use_keyspace(ks, false).await.unwrap();
+
+        session
+            .ddl("CREATE TABLE t (a int primary key, b int)")
+            .await
+            .unwrap();
+
+        type Rxs = [mpsc::UnboundedReceiver<(RequestFrame, Option<TargetShard>)>; 3];
+
+        fn clear_rxs(rxs: &mut Rxs) {
+            for rx in rxs.iter_mut() {
+                while rx.try_recv().is_ok() {}
+            }
+        }
+
+        fn get_num_queried(rxs: &mut Rxs) -> usize {
+            let num_queried = rxs.iter_mut().filter_map(|rx| rx.try_recv().ok()).count();
+            clear_rxs(rxs);
+            num_queried
+        }
+
+        fn assert_multiple_replicas_queried(rxs: &mut Rxs) {
+            let num_queried = get_num_queried(rxs);
+
+            assert!(num_queried > 1);
+        }
+
+        fn assert_one_replica_queried(rxs: &mut Rxs) {
+            let num_queried = get_num_queried(rxs);
+
+            assert!(num_queried == 1);
+        }
+
+        #[allow(unused)]
+        fn who_was_queried(rxs: &mut Rxs) {
+            for (i, rx) in rxs.iter_mut().enumerate() {
+                if rx.try_recv().is_ok() {
+                    println!("{} was queried.", i);
+                    return;
+                }
+            }
+            println!("NOBODY was queried!");
+        }
+
+        // We will check which nodes were queried, for both LWT and non-LWT prepared statements.
+        let prepared_non_lwt = session.prepare("INSERT INTO t (a, b) VALUES (?, 1)").await.unwrap();
+        let prepared_lwt = session.prepare("UPDATE t SET b=3 WHERE a=? IF b=2").await.unwrap();
+
+        if supports_optimisation_mark {
+            // We make sure that the driver properly marked prepared statements wrt being LWT.
+            assert!(!prepared_non_lwt.is_confirmed_lwt());
+            assert!(prepared_lwt.is_confirmed_lwt());
+        }
+
+        assert!(prepared_non_lwt.is_token_aware());
+        assert!(prepared_lwt.is_token_aware());
+
+        // We execute non-LWT statements and ensure that multiple nodes were queried.
+        //
+        // Note that our DefaultPolicy no longer performs round robin, but instead randomly picks a replica.
+        // To see multiple replicas here, we cannot choose a fixed pick seed, so we must rely on randomness.
+        // It happened several times in CI that *not all* replicas were queried, but now we only
+        // assert that *more than one* replica is queried. Moreover, we increased iterations
+        // from 15 to 30 in hope this will suffice to prevent flakiness.
+        // Alternatively, we could give up this part of the test and only test LWT part, but then
+        // we couldn't be sure that in non-LWT case the driver truly chooses various replicas.
+        for _ in 0..30 {
+            session.execute_unpaged(&prepared_non_lwt, (MAGIC_MARK,)).await.unwrap();
+        }
+
+        assert_multiple_replicas_queried(&mut prepared_rxs);
+
+        // We execute LWT statements, and...
+        for _ in 0..15 {
+            session.execute_unpaged(&prepared_lwt, (MAGIC_MARK,)).await.unwrap();
+        }
+
+        if supports_optimisation_mark {
+            // ...if cluster supports LWT, we assert that one replica was always queried first (and effectively only that one was queried).
+            assert_one_replica_queried(&mut prepared_rxs);
+        } else {
+            // ...else we assert that replicas were shuffled as in case of non-LWT.
+            assert_multiple_replicas_queried(&mut prepared_rxs);
+        }
+
+        running_proxy
+    }).await;
+
+    match res {
+        Ok(()) => (),
+        Err(ProxyError::Worker(WorkerError::DriverDisconnected(_))) => (),
+        Err(err) => panic!("{}", err),
+    }
+}
+
+#[tokio::test]
+#[ntest::timeout(20000)]
+#[cfg(not(scylla_cloud_tests))]
+#[cfg_attr(not(ccm_tests), ignore)]
+async fn query_routed_optimally_with_tablets_and_policy_token_aware_on_preferences_none_permit_failover_on(){
+    let policy = DefaultPolicy::builder()
+    .token_aware(true)
+    .permit_dc_failover(true)
+    .build();
+    test_query_routed_according_to_policy(policy, true, 3);
+}
+
+#[tokio::test]
+#[ntest::timeout(20000)]
+#[cfg(not(scylla_cloud_tests))]
+#[cfg_attr(not(ccm_tests), ignore)]
+async fn query_routed_optimally_with_tablets_and_policy_token_aware_on_preferences_none_permit_failover_off(){
+    let policy = DefaultPolicy::builder()
+    .token_aware(true)
+    .permit_dc_failover(false)
+    .build();
+    test_query_routed_according_to_policy(policy, true, 3);
+}
+
+#[tokio::test]
+#[ntest::timeout(20000)]
+#[cfg(not(scylla_cloud_tests))]
+#[cfg_attr(not(ccm_tests), ignore)]
+async fn query_routed_optimally_with_tablets_and_policy_token_aware_on_preferences_dc_permit_failover_on(){
+    let policy = DefaultPolicy::builder()
+    .prefer_datacenter("dc1".to_string())
+    .token_aware(true)
+    .permit_dc_failover(false)
+    .build();
+    test_query_routed_according_to_policy(policy, true, 3);
+}
+
+// This is a regression test for #696.
+#[tokio::test]
+#[ntest::timeout(2000)]
+async fn latency_aware_query_completes() {
+    setup_tracing();
+    let policy = DefaultPolicy::builder()
+        .latency_awareness(LatencyAwarenessBuilder::default())
+        .build();
+    let handle = ExecutionProfile::builder()
+        .load_balancing_policy(policy)
+        .build()
+        .into_handle();
+
+    let session = create_new_session_builder()
+        .default_execution_profile_handle(handle)
+        .build()
+        .await
+        .unwrap();
+
+    session.query_unpaged("whatever", ()).await.unwrap_err();
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scylla/tests/ccm_integration/main.rs b/scylla/tests/ccm_integration/main.rs
index 0139d795d0..12dfb32b81 100644
--- a/scylla/tests/ccm_integration/main.rs
+++ b/scylla/tests/ccm_integration/main.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #[path = "../common/mod.rs"]
 mod common;
-
 pub(crate) mod ccm;
 mod test_example;
+mod default_policy;