diff --git a/db/cql_type_parser.cc b/db/cql_type_parser.cc
index 685c5cf658..d665fb4a87 100644
--- a/db/cql_type_parser.cc
+++ b/db/cql_type_parser.cc
@@ -57,9 +57,30 @@ static ::shared_ptr<cql3::cql3_type::raw> parse_raw(const sstring& str) {
 }
 
 data_type db::cql_type_parser::parse(const sstring& keyspace, const sstring& str, lw_shared_ptr<user_types_metadata> user_types) {
+    static const thread_local std::unordered_map<sstring, cql3::cql3_type> native_types = []{
+        std::unordered_map<sstring, cql3::cql3_type> res;
+        for (auto& nt : cql3::cql3_type::values()) {
+            res.emplace(nt.to_string(), nt);
+        }
+        return res;
+    }();
+
+    auto i = native_types.find(str);
+    if (i != native_types.end()) {
+        return i->second.get_type();
+    }
+
     if (!user_types && service::get_storage_proxy().local_is_initialized()) {
         user_types = service::get_storage_proxy().local().get_db().local().find_keyspace(keyspace).metadata()->user_types();
     }
+    // special-case top-level UDTs
+    if (user_types) {
+        auto& map = user_types->get_all_types();
+        auto i = map.find(utf8_type->decompose(str));
+        if (i != map.end()) {
+            return i->second;
+        }
+    }
 
     auto raw = parse_raw(str);
     auto cql = raw->prepare_internal(keyspace, user_types);