diff --git a/experimental/CHANGELOG.md b/experimental/CHANGELOG.md
index 7935a1df7f3..de1e3ff894b 100644
--- a/experimental/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/experimental/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ All notable changes to experimental packages in this project will be documented
 
 ### :bug: (Bug Fix)
 
+* fix(instrumentation-http): drop url.parse in favor of URL constructor [#5091](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js/pull/5091) @pichlermarc
+  * fixes a bug where using cyrillic characters in a client request string URL would throw an exception, whereas an un-instrumented client would accept the same input without throwing an exception
+
 ### :books: (Refine Doc)
 
 ### :house: (Internal)
diff --git a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/src/http.ts b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/src/http.ts
index eec43940352..f7672440cfc 100644
--- a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/src/http.ts
+++ b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/src/http.ts
@@ -632,15 +632,19 @@ export class HttpInstrumentation extends InstrumentationBase<HttpInstrumentation
 
       const headers = request.headers;
 
-      const spanAttributes = getIncomingRequestAttributes(request, {
-        component: component,
-        serverName: instrumentation.getConfig().serverName,
-        hookAttributes: instrumentation._callStartSpanHook(
-          request,
-          instrumentation.getConfig().startIncomingSpanHook
-        ),
-        semconvStability: instrumentation._semconvStability,
-      });
+      const spanAttributes = getIncomingRequestAttributes(
+        request,
+        {
+          component: component,
+          serverName: instrumentation.getConfig().serverName,
+          hookAttributes: instrumentation._callStartSpanHook(
+            request,
+            instrumentation.getConfig().startIncomingSpanHook
+          ),
+          semconvStability: instrumentation._semconvStability,
+        },
+        instrumentation._diag
+      );
 
       const spanOptions: SpanOptions = {
         kind: SpanKind.SERVER,
@@ -757,7 +761,11 @@ export class HttpInstrumentation extends InstrumentationBase<HttpInstrumentation
         (typeof options === 'string' || options instanceof url.URL)
           ? (args.shift() as http.RequestOptions)
           : undefined;
-      const { method, optionsParsed } = getRequestInfo(options, extraOptions);
+      const { method, invalidUrl, optionsParsed } = getRequestInfo(
+        instrumentation._diag,
+        options,
+        extraOptions
+      );
       /**
        * Node 8's https module directly call the http one so to avoid creating
        * 2 span for the same request we need to check that the protocol is correct
@@ -859,7 +867,16 @@ export class HttpInstrumentation extends InstrumentationBase<HttpInstrumentation
         }
 
         const request: http.ClientRequest = safeExecuteInTheMiddle(
-          () => original.apply(this, [optionsParsed, ...args]),
+          () => {
+            if (invalidUrl) {
+              // we know that the url is invalid, there's no point in injecting context as it will fail validation.
+              // Passing in what the user provided will give the user an error that matches what they'd see without
+              // the instrumentation.
+              return original.apply(this, [options, ...args]);
+            } else {
+              return original.apply(this, [optionsParsed, ...args]);
+            }
+          },
           error => {
             if (error) {
               setSpanWithError(span, error, instrumentation._semconvStability);
diff --git a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/src/utils.ts b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/src/utils.ts
index 97e7b28e5c6..e7a60aa054f 100644
--- a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/src/utils.ts
+++ b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/src/utils.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import {
   Span,
   context,
   SpanKind,
+  DiagLogger,
 } from '@opentelemetry/api';
 import {
   ATTR_CLIENT_ADDRESS,
@@ -235,27 +236,104 @@ export const isCompressed = (
   return !!encoding && encoding !== 'identity';
 };
 
+/**
+ * Mimics Node.js conversion of URL strings to RequestOptions expected by
+ * `http.request` and `https.request` APIs.
+ *
+ * See https://github.com/nodejs/node/blob/2505e217bba05fc581b572c685c5cf280a16c5a3/lib/internal/url.js#L1415-L1437
+ *
+ * @param stringUrl
+ * @throws TypeError if the URL is not valid.
+ */
+function stringUrlToHttpOptions(
+  stringUrl: string
+): RequestOptions & { pathname: string } {
+  // This is heavily inspired by Node.js handling of the same situation, trying
+  // to follow it as closely as possible while keeping in mind that we only
+  // deal with string URLs, not URL objects.
+  const {
+    hostname,
+    pathname,
+    port,
+    username,
+    password,
+    search,
+    protocol,
+    hash,
+    href,
+    origin,
+    host,
+  } = new URL(stringUrl);
+
+  const options: RequestOptions & {
+    pathname: string;
+    hash: string;
+    search: string;
+    href: string;
+    origin: string;
+  } = {
+    protocol: protocol,
+    hostname:
+      hostname && hostname[0] === '[' ? hostname.slice(1, -1) : hostname,
+    hash: hash,
+    search: search,
+    pathname: pathname,
+    path: `${pathname || ''}${search || ''}`,
+    href: href,
+    origin: origin,
+    host: host,
+  };
+  if (port !== '') {
+    options.port = Number(port);
+  }
+  if (username || password) {
+    options.auth = `${decodeURIComponent(username)}:${decodeURIComponent(
+      password
+    )}`;
+  }
+  return options;
+}
+
 /**
  * Makes sure options is an url object
  * return an object with default value and parsed options
+ * @param logger component logger
  * @param options original options for the request
  * @param [extraOptions] additional options for the request
  */
 export const getRequestInfo = (
+  logger: DiagLogger,
   options: url.URL | RequestOptions | string,
   extraOptions?: RequestOptions
 ): {
   origin: string;
   pathname: string;
   method: string;
+  invalidUrl: boolean;
   optionsParsed: RequestOptions;
 } => {
-  let pathname = '/';
-  let origin = '';
+  let pathname: string;
+  let origin: string;
   let optionsParsed: RequestOptions;
+  let invalidUrl = false;
   if (typeof options === 'string') {
-    optionsParsed = url.parse(options);
-    pathname = (optionsParsed as url.UrlWithStringQuery).pathname || '/';
+    try {
+      const convertedOptions = stringUrlToHttpOptions(options);
+      optionsParsed = convertedOptions;
+      pathname = convertedOptions.pathname || '/';
+    } catch (e) {
+      invalidUrl = true;
+      logger.verbose(
+        'Unable to parse URL provided to HTTP request, using fallback to determine path. Original error:',
+        e
+      );
+      // for backward compatibility with how url.parse() behaved.
+      optionsParsed = {
+        path: options,
+      };
+      pathname = optionsParsed.path || '/';
+    }
+
     origin = `${optionsParsed.protocol || 'http:'}//${optionsParsed.host}`;
     if (extraOptions !== undefined) {
       Object.assign(optionsParsed, extraOptions);
@@ -285,16 +363,23 @@ export const getRequestInfo = (
       { protocol: options.host ? 'http:' : undefined },
       options
     );
-    pathname = (options as url.URL).pathname;
-    if (!pathname && optionsParsed.path) {
-      pathname = url.parse(optionsParsed.path).pathname || '/';
-    }
+
     const hostname =
       optionsParsed.host ||
       (optionsParsed.port != null
         ? `${optionsParsed.hostname}${optionsParsed.port}`
         : optionsParsed.hostname);
     origin = `${optionsParsed.protocol || 'http:'}//${hostname}`;
+
+    pathname = (options as url.URL).pathname;
+    if (!pathname && optionsParsed.path) {
+      try {
+        const parsedUrl = new URL(optionsParsed.path, origin);
+        pathname = parsedUrl.pathname || '/';
+      } catch (e) {
+        pathname = '/';
+      }
+    }
   }
 
   // some packages return method in lowercase..
@@ -303,7 +388,7 @@ export const getRequestInfo = (
     ? optionsParsed.method.toUpperCase()
     : 'GET';
 
-  return { origin, pathname, method, optionsParsed };
+  return { origin, pathname, method, optionsParsed, invalidUrl };
 };
 
 /**
@@ -657,6 +742,42 @@ export function getRemoteClientAddress(
   return null;
 }
 
+function getInfoFromIncomingMessage(
+  component: 'http' | 'https',
+  request: IncomingMessage,
+  logger: DiagLogger
+): { pathname?: string; search?: string; toString: () => string } {
+  try {
+    if (request.headers.host) {
+      return new URL(
+        request.url ?? '/',
+        `${component}://${request.headers.host}`
+      );
+    } else {
+      const unsafeParsedUrl = new URL(
+        request.url ?? '/',
+        // using localhost as a workaround to still use the URL constructor for parsing
+        `${component}://localhost`
+      );
+      // since we use localhost as a workaround, ensure we hide the rest of the properties to avoid
+      // our workaround leaking though.
+      return {
+        pathname: unsafeParsedUrl.pathname,
+        search: unsafeParsedUrl.search,
+        toString: function () {
+          // we cannot use the result of unsafeParsedUrl.toString as it's potentially wrong.
+          return unsafeParsedUrl.pathname + unsafeParsedUrl.search;
+        },
+      };
+    }
+  } catch (e) {
+    // something is wrong, use undefined - this *should* never happen, logging
+    // for troubleshooting in case it does happen.
+    logger.verbose('Unable to get URL from request', e);
+    return {};
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Returns incoming request attributes scoped to the request data
  * @param {IncomingMessage} request the request object
@@ -670,18 +791,15 @@ export const getIncomingRequestAttributes = (
     serverName?: string;
     hookAttributes?: Attributes;
     semconvStability: SemconvStability;
-  }
+  },
+  logger: DiagLogger
 ): Attributes => {
   const headers = request.headers;
   const userAgent = headers['user-agent'];
   const ips = headers['x-forwarded-for'];
   const httpVersion = request.httpVersion;
-  const requestUrl = request.url ? url.parse(request.url) : null;
-  const host = requestUrl?.host || headers.host;
-  const hostname =
-    requestUrl?.hostname ||
-    host?.replace(/^(.*)(:[0-9]{1,5})/, '$1') ||
-    'localhost';
+  const host = headers.host;
+  const hostname = host?.replace(/^(.*)(:[0-9]{1,5})/, '$1') || 'localhost';
 
   const method = request.method;
   const normalizedMethod = normalizeMethod(method);
@@ -701,8 +819,14 @@ export const getIncomingRequestAttributes = (
     [ATTR_USER_AGENT_ORIGINAL]: userAgent,
   };
 
-  if (requestUrl?.pathname != null) {
-    newAttributes[ATTR_URL_PATH] = requestUrl.pathname;
+  const parsedUrl = getInfoFromIncomingMessage(
+    options.component,
+    request,
+    logger
+  );
+
+  if (parsedUrl?.pathname != null) {
+    newAttributes[ATTR_URL_PATH] = parsedUrl.pathname;
   }
 
   if (remoteClientAddress != null) {
@@ -719,11 +843,7 @@ export const getIncomingRequestAttributes = (
   }
 
   const oldAttributes: Attributes = {
-    [SEMATTRS_HTTP_URL]: getAbsoluteUrl(
-      requestUrl,
-      headers,
-      `${options.component}:`
-    ),
+    [SEMATTRS_HTTP_URL]: parsedUrl.toString(),
     [SEMATTRS_HTTP_HOST]: host,
     [SEMATTRS_NET_HOST_NAME]: hostname,
     [SEMATTRS_HTTP_METHOD]: method,
@@ -738,8 +858,9 @@ export const getIncomingRequestAttributes = (
     oldAttributes[SEMATTRS_HTTP_SERVER_NAME] = serverName;
   }
 
-  if (requestUrl) {
-    oldAttributes[SEMATTRS_HTTP_TARGET] = requestUrl.path || '/';
+  if (parsedUrl?.pathname) {
+    oldAttributes[SEMATTRS_HTTP_TARGET] =
+      parsedUrl?.pathname + parsedUrl?.search || '/';
   }
 
   if (userAgent !== undefined) {
diff --git a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/test/functionals/http-enable.test.ts b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/test/functionals/http-enable.test.ts
index b7878efc0a9..0d515baf46d 100644
--- a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/test/functionals/http-enable.test.ts
+++ b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/test/functionals/http-enable.test.ts
@@ -350,6 +350,15 @@ describe('HttpInstrumentation', () => {
             assert.strictEqual(rpcData.route, undefined);
             rpcData.route = 'TheRoute';
           }
+          if (request.url?.includes('/login')) {
+            assert.strictEqual(
+              request.headers.authorization,
+              'Basic ' + Buffer.from('username:password').toString('base64')
+            );
+          }
+          if (request.url?.includes('/withQuery')) {
+            assert.match(request.url, /withQuery\?foo=bar$/);
+          }
           response.end('Test Server Response');
         });
 
@@ -597,7 +606,7 @@ describe('HttpInstrumentation', () => {
         assert.strictEqual(spans.length, 2);
       });
 
-      for (const arg of ['string', {}, new Date()]) {
+      for (const arg of [{}, new Date()]) {
         it(`should be traceable and not throw exception in ${protocol} instrumentation when passing the following argument ${JSON.stringify(
           arg
         )}`, async () => {
@@ -1005,6 +1014,34 @@ describe('HttpInstrumentation', () => {
 
         assert.deepStrictEqual(warnMessages, []);
       });
+
+      it('should not throw with cyrillic characters in the request path', async () => {
+        // see https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-js/issues/5060
+        await httpRequest.get(`${protocol}://${hostname}:${serverPort}/привет`);
+      });
+
+      it('should keep username and password in the request', async () => {
+        await httpRequest.get(
+          `${protocol}://username:password@${hostname}:${serverPort}/login`
+        );
+      });
+
+      it('should keep query in the request', async () => {
+        await httpRequest.get(
+          `${protocol}://${hostname}:${serverPort}/withQuery?foo=bar`
+        );
+      });
+
+      it('using an invalid url does throw from client but still creates a span', async () => {
+        try {
+          await httpRequest.get(`http://instrumentation.test:string-as-port/`);
+        } catch (e) {
+          assert.match(e.message, /Invalid URL/);
+        }
+
+        const spans = memoryExporter.getFinishedSpans();
+        assert.strictEqual(spans.length, 1);
+      });
     });
 
     describe('with semconv stability set to http', () => {
diff --git a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/test/functionals/https-enable.test.ts b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/test/functionals/https-enable.test.ts
index 7c2e68bb0f7..a9f3b506a60 100644
--- a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/test/functionals/https-enable.test.ts
+++ b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/test/functionals/https-enable.test.ts
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ describe('HttpsInstrumentation', () => {
         assert.strictEqual(spans.length, 0);
       });
 
-      for (const arg of ['string', {}, new Date()]) {
+      for (const arg of [{}, new Date()]) {
         it(`should be traceable and not throw exception in ${protocol} instrumentation when passing the following argument ${JSON.stringify(
           arg
         )}`, async () => {
@@ -672,6 +672,31 @@ describe('HttpsInstrumentation', () => {
         });
         req.end();
       });
+
+      it('should keep username and password in the request', async () => {
+        await httpsRequest.get(
+          `${protocol}://username:password@${hostname}:${serverPort}/login`
+        );
+      });
+
+      it('should keep query in the request', async () => {
+        await httpsRequest.get(
+          `${protocol}://${hostname}:${serverPort}/withQuery?foo=bar`
+        );
+      });
+
+      it('using an invalid url does throw from client but still creates a span', async () => {
+        try {
+          await httpsRequest.get(
+            `${protocol}://instrumentation.test:string-as-port/`
+          );
+        } catch (e) {
+          assert.match(e.message, /Invalid URL/);
+        }
+
+        const spans = memoryExporter.getFinishedSpans();
+        assert.strictEqual(spans.length, 1);
+      });
     });
 
     describe('partially disable instrumentation', () => {
diff --git a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/test/functionals/utils.test.ts b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/test/functionals/utils.test.ts
index 80e48126fd3..4f41548c897 100644
--- a/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/test/functionals/utils.test.ts
+++ b/experimental/packages/opentelemetry-instrumentation-http/test/functionals/utils.test.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ import {
   SpanKind,
   context,
   Span,
+  diag,
 } from '@opentelemetry/api';
 import {
   SEMATTRS_HTTP_REQUEST_CONTENT_LENGTH,
@@ -101,7 +102,7 @@ describe('Utility', () => {
         urlParsedWithUndefinedHostAndNullPort,
         whatWgUrl,
       ]) {
-        const result = utils.getRequestInfo(param);
+        const result = utils.getRequestInfo(diag, param);
         assert.strictEqual(result.optionsParsed.hostname, 'google.fr');
         assert.strictEqual(result.optionsParsed.protocol, 'http:');
         assert.strictEqual(result.optionsParsed.path, '/aPath?qu=ry');
@@ -432,10 +433,14 @@ describe('Utility', () => {
         'user-agent': 'chrome',
         'x-forwarded-for': '<client>, <proxy1>, <proxy2>',
       };
-      const attributes = utils.getIncomingRequestAttributes(request, {
-        component: 'http',
-        semconvStability: SemconvStability.OLD,
-      });
+      const attributes = utils.getIncomingRequestAttributes(
+        request,
+        {
+          component: 'http',
+          semconvStability: SemconvStability.OLD,
+        },
+        diag
+      );
       assert.strictEqual(attributes[SEMATTRS_HTTP_ROUTE], undefined);
     });
 
@@ -448,10 +453,14 @@ describe('Utility', () => {
       request.headers = {
         'user-agent': 'chrome',
       };
-      const attributes = utils.getIncomingRequestAttributes(request, {
-        component: 'http',
-        semconvStability: SemconvStability.OLD,
-      });
+      const attributes = utils.getIncomingRequestAttributes(
+        request,
+        {
+          component: 'http',
+          semconvStability: SemconvStability.OLD,
+        },
+        diag
+      );
       assert.strictEqual(attributes[SEMATTRS_HTTP_TARGET], '/user/?q=val');
     });
   });