diff --git a/bin/pest b/bin/pest
index c83b6446..439a6dec 100755
--- a/bin/pest
+++ b/bin/pest
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 <?php declare(strict_types=1);
 
 use Pest\Actions\ValidatesEnvironment;
+use Pest\ConfigLoader;
 use Pest\Support\Container;
 use Pest\Kernel;
 use Pest\TestSuite;
@@ -28,7 +29,9 @@ use Symfony\Component\Console\Output\OutputInterface;
     $rootPath = dirname($autoloadPath, 2);
     $argv = new ArgvInput();
 
-    $testSuite = TestSuite::getInstance($rootPath, $argv->getParameterOption('--test-directory', 'tests'));
+    $phpunitConfig = new ConfigLoader($rootPath);
+
+    $testSuite = TestSuite::getInstance($rootPath, $argv->getParameterOption('--test-directory', $phpunitConfig->getTestsDirectory()));
 
     $isDecorated = $argv->getParameterOption('--colors', 'always') !== 'never';
     $output = new ConsoleOutput(ConsoleOutput::VERBOSITY_NORMAL, $isDecorated);
diff --git a/src/ConfigLoader.php b/src/ConfigLoader.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..49a005a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/ConfigLoader.php
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+<?php
+
+declare(strict_types=1);
+
+namespace Pest;
+
+use Pest\Support\Str;
+use SimpleXMLElement;
+use Throwable;
+
+/**
+ * @internal
+ */
+final class ConfigLoader
+{
+    private ?SimpleXMLElement $config = null;
+
+    /**
+     * Default path if config loading went wrong.
+     *
+     * @var string
+     */
+    private const DEFAULT_TESTS_PATH = 'tests';
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new instance of the config loader.
+     */
+    public function __construct(private string $rootPath)
+    {
+        $this->loadConfiguration();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the tests directory or fallback to default path.
+     */
+    public function getTestsDirectory(): string
+    {
+        if (is_null($this->config)) {
+            return self::DEFAULT_TESTS_PATH;
+        }
+
+        $suiteDirectory = $this->config->xpath('/phpunit/testsuites/testsuite/directory');
+
+        // @phpstan-ignore-next-line
+        if (!$suiteDirectory || count($suiteDirectory) === 0) {
+            return self::DEFAULT_TESTS_PATH;
+        }
+
+        $directory = (string) ($suiteDirectory[0] ?? '');
+
+        if ($directory === '') {
+            return self::DEFAULT_TESTS_PATH;
+        }
+
+        // Return the whole directory if only a separator found (e.g. `./tests`)
+        if (substr_count($directory, DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR) === 1) {
+            return is_dir($directory) ? $directory : self::DEFAULT_TESTS_PATH;
+        }
+
+        $basePath = Str::beforeLast($directory, DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR);
+
+        return is_dir($basePath) ? $basePath : self::DEFAULT_TESTS_PATH;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Load the configuration file.
+     */
+    private function loadConfiguration(): void
+    {
+        $configPath = $this->getConfigurationFilePath();
+
+        if ($configPath === false) {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        $oldReportingLevel = error_reporting(0);
+        $content           = file_get_contents($configPath);
+
+        if ($content !== false) {
+            try {
+                $this->config = new SimpleXMLElement($content);
+            } catch (Throwable) { // @phpstan-ignore-line
+                // @ignoreException
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Restore the correct error reporting
+        error_reporting($oldReportingLevel);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the configuration file path.
+     */
+    private function getConfigurationFilePath(): string|false
+    {
+        $candidates = [
+            $this->rootPath . '/phpunit.xml',
+            $this->rootPath . '/phpunit.dist.xml',
+            $this->rootPath . '/phpunit.xml.dist',
+        ];
+
+        foreach ($candidates as $candidate) {
+            if (is_file($candidate)) {
+                return realpath($candidate);
+            }
+        }
+
+        return false;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/Support/Str.php b/src/Support/Str.php
index a7217704..0314e11f 100644
--- a/src/Support/Str.php
+++ b/src/Support/Str.php
@@ -58,4 +58,22 @@ final class Str
 
         return (string) preg_replace('/[^A-Z_a-z0-9\\\\]/', '', $code);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the portion of a string before the last occurrence of a given value.
+     */
+    public static function beforeLast(string $subject, string $search): string
+    {
+        if ($search === '') {
+            return $subject;
+        }
+
+        $pos = mb_strrpos($subject, $search);
+
+        if ($pos === false) {
+            return $subject;
+        }
+
+        return substr($subject, 0, $pos);
+    }
 }