diff --git a/neutron/agent/common/ovs_lib.py b/neutron/agent/common/ovs_lib.py
index 70f41a92fa7..b24d1612dde 100644
--- a/neutron/agent/common/ovs_lib.py
+++ b/neutron/agent/common/ovs_lib.py
@@ -68,6 +68,9 @@ _SENTINEL = object()
 CTRL_RATE_LIMIT_MIN = 100
 CTRL_BURST_LIMIT_MIN = 25
 
+# TODO(slaweq): move this to neutron_lib.constants
+TYPE_GRE_IP6 = 'ip6gre'
+
 
 def _ovsdb_result_pending(result):
     """Return True if ovs-vsctl indicates the result is still pending."""
@@ -94,6 +97,13 @@ def _ovsdb_retry(fn):
     return wrapped
 
 
+def get_gre_tunnel_port_type(remote_ip, local_ip):
+    if (common_utils.get_ip_version(remote_ip) == p_const.IP_VERSION_6 or
+            common_utils.get_ip_version(local_ip) == p_const.IP_VERSION_6):
+        return TYPE_GRE_IP6
+    return p_const.TYPE_GRE
+
+
 class VifPort(object):
     def __init__(self, port_name, ofport, vif_id, vif_mac, switch):
         self.port_name = port_name
@@ -509,6 +519,8 @@ class OVSBridge(BaseOVS):
                         dont_fragment=True,
                         tunnel_csum=False,
                         tos=None):
+        if tunnel_type == p_const.TYPE_GRE:
+            tunnel_type = get_gre_tunnel_port_type(remote_ip, local_ip)
         attrs = [('type', tunnel_type)]
         # TODO(twilson) This is an OrderedDict solely to make a test happy
         options = collections.OrderedDict()
@@ -532,6 +544,10 @@ class OVSBridge(BaseOVS):
             options['csum'] = str(tunnel_csum).lower()
         if tos:
             options['tos'] = str(tos)
+        if tunnel_type == TYPE_GRE_IP6:
+            # NOTE(slaweq) According to the OVS documentation L3 GRE tunnels
+            # over IPv6 are not supported.
+            options['packet_type'] = 'legacy'
         attrs.append(('options', options))
 
         return self.add_port(port_name, *attrs)
diff --git a/neutron/tests/functional/agent/test_ovs_lib.py b/neutron/tests/functional/agent/test_ovs_lib.py
index 45aa364cb0b..b6e7c8a3caf 100644
--- a/neutron/tests/functional/agent/test_ovs_lib.py
+++ b/neutron/tests/functional/agent/test_ovs_lib.py
@@ -212,11 +212,12 @@ class OVSBridgeTestCase(OVSBridgeTestBase):
                                  self.br.br_name, 'datapath_id', dpid)
         self.assertIn(dpid, self.br.get_datapath_id())
 
-    def _test_add_tunnel_port(self, attrs):
+    def _test_add_tunnel_port(self, attrs,
+                              expected_tunnel_type=const.TYPE_GRE):
         port_name = utils.get_rand_device_name(net_helpers.PORT_PREFIX)
         self.br.add_tunnel_port(port_name, attrs['remote_ip'],
                                 attrs['local_ip'])
-        self.assertEqual('gre',
+        self.assertEqual(expected_tunnel_type,
                          self.ovs.db_get_val('Interface', port_name, 'type'))
         options = self.ovs.db_get_val('Interface', port_name, 'options')
         for attr, val in attrs.items():
@@ -234,7 +235,8 @@ class OVSBridgeTestCase(OVSBridgeTestBase):
             'remote_ip': '2001:db8:200::1',
             'local_ip': '2001:db8:100::1',
         }
-        self._test_add_tunnel_port(attrs)
+        self._test_add_tunnel_port(
+            attrs, expected_tunnel_type=ovs_lib.TYPE_GRE_IP6)
 
     def test_add_tunnel_port_custom_port(self):
         port_name = utils.get_rand_device_name(net_helpers.PORT_PREFIX)