diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 4d2f9fd72dc..5af4898aad1 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ Ref: https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/
 
 ### Improvements
 
+* (connection) [\#721](https://github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/pull/721) Simplify connection handshake error messages when unpacking client state.
 * (channel) [\#692](https://github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/pull/692) Minimize channel logging by only emitting the packet sequence, source port/channel, destination port/channel upon packet receives, acknowledgements and timeouts.
 * [\#383](https://github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/pull/383) Adds helper functions for merging and splitting middleware versions from the underlying app version.
 * (modules/core/05-port) [\#288](https://github.com/cosmos/ibc-go/issues/288) Making the 05-port keeper function IsBound public. The IsBound function checks if the provided portID is already binded to a module.
diff --git a/modules/core/keeper/msg_server.go b/modules/core/keeper/msg_server.go
index a3348080af8..8ad5cad5938 100644
--- a/modules/core/keeper/msg_server.go
+++ b/modules/core/keeper/msg_server.go
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ func (k Keeper) ConnectionOpenTry(goCtx context.Context, msg *connectiontypes.Ms
 
 	targetClient, err := clienttypes.UnpackClientState(msg.ClientState)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, sdkerrors.Wrapf(err, "client in msg is not exported.ClientState. invalid client: %v.", targetClient)
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	connectionID, err := k.ConnectionKeeper.ConnOpenTry(
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ func (k Keeper) ConnectionOpenAck(goCtx context.Context, msg *connectiontypes.Ms
 	ctx := sdk.UnwrapSDKContext(goCtx)
 	targetClient, err := clienttypes.UnpackClientState(msg.ClientState)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, sdkerrors.Wrapf(err, "client in msg is not exported.ClientState. invalid client: %v", targetClient)
+		return nil, err
 	}
 
 	if err := k.ConnectionKeeper.ConnOpenAck(