diff --git a/rest_framework/__init__.py b/rest_framework/__init__.py
index 19f83ecab..31338d7c5 100644
--- a/rest_framework/__init__.py
+++ b/rest_framework/__init__.py
@@ -21,3 +21,5 @@ HTTP_HEADER_ENCODING = 'iso-8859-1'
 
 # Default datetime input and output formats
 ISO_8601 = 'iso-8601'
+
+default_app_config = 'rest_framework.apps.RestFrameworkConfig'
diff --git a/rest_framework/apps.py b/rest_framework/apps.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..be9bd809f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/rest_framework/apps.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+from importlib import import_module
+
+from django.apps import AppConfig
+from django.conf import settings
+from django.utils.translation import ugettext_lazy as _
+
+
+class RestFrameworkConfig(AppConfig):
+    name = 'rest_framework'
+    verbose_name = _("REST Framework")
+
+    def ready(self):
+        """
+        Try to auto-import any modules in INSTALLED_APPS.
+
+        This lets us evaluate all of the @router.route('...') calls.
+        """
+        for app in settings.INSTALLED_APPS:
+            for mod_name in ['api']:
+                try:
+                    import_module('%s.%s' % (app, mod_name))
+                except ImportError:
+                    pass
diff --git a/rest_framework/routers.py b/rest_framework/routers.py
index 7bbfc12ec..5b231a2f4 100644
--- a/rest_framework/routers.py
+++ b/rest_framework/routers.py
@@ -173,6 +173,32 @@ class SimpleRouter(BaseRouter):
         self.trailing_slash = trailing_slash and '/' or ''
         super(SimpleRouter, self).__init__()
 
+    def route(self, *full_path, **kwargs):
+        """
+        ViewSet class decorator for automatically registering a route:
+
+            router = SimpleRouter()
+
+            @router.route('parent')
+            class ParentViewSet(ViewSet):
+                pass
+
+            @router.route('parent', 'child', base_name='children)
+            class ChildViewSet(ViewSet):
+                pass
+        """
+        full_path = list(full_path)
+        assert len(full_path) > 0, 'Must provide a route prefix'
+        base_name = kwargs.pop('base_name', '-'.join(full_path))
+
+        def wrapper(viewset_cls):
+            self.register(wrapper._full_path, viewset_cls, wrapper._base_name)
+            return viewset_cls
+
+        wrapper._full_path = full_path
+        wrapper._base_name = base_name
+        return wrapper
+
     def get_default_base_name(self, viewset):
         """
         If `base_name` is not specified, attempt to automatically determine
diff --git a/tests/test_routers.py b/tests/test_routers.py
index 5d4bc692e..f0624a7a4 100644
--- a/tests/test_routers.py
+++ b/tests/test_routers.py
@@ -179,6 +179,23 @@ class TestSimpleRouter(TestCase):
             self.router.get_route_nodes_path(tree.get(['first', 'first'], 'last')),
             r'first/(?P<first_uuid>[^/.]+)/first/(?P<first_2_uuid>[^/.]+)/last')
 
+    def test_route(self):
+        """
+        Should allow registering ViewSets via a class decorator.
+        """
+        @self.router.route('parent', 'child')
+        class ChildViewSet(NoteViewSet):
+            pass
+
+        @self.router.route('parent')
+        class ParentViewSet(NoteViewSet):
+            pass
+
+        self.assertEqual(self.router._process_registry(), [
+            (['parent'], ParentViewSet, 'parent'),
+            (['parent', 'child'], ChildViewSet, 'parent-child')
+        ])
+
 
 @override_settings(ROOT_URLCONF='tests.test_routers')
 class TestRootView(TestCase):