diff --git a/BUILD b/BUILD
index 631452c79dd..2ba146664b9 100644
--- a/BUILD
+++ b/BUILD
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@ cc_test(
     ],
     copts = [
         "-DFLATBUFFERS_TRACK_VERIFIER_BUFFER_SIZE",
+        "-DBAZEL_TEST_DATA_PATH",
     ],
     data = [
         ":tests/include_test/include_test1.fbs",
diff --git a/tests/test.cpp b/tests/test.cpp
index 2730026bfc3..b14e56bd2fe 100644
--- a/tests/test.cpp
+++ b/tests/test.cpp
@@ -50,7 +50,12 @@ uint32_t lcg_rand() {
 }
 void lcg_reset() { lcg_seed = 48271; }
 
-std::string test_data_path = "tests/";
+std::string test_data_path =
+#ifdef BAZEL_TEST_DATA_PATH
+    "../com_github_google_flatbuffers/tests/";
+#else
+    "tests/";
+#endif
 
 // example of how to build up a serialized buffer algorithmically:
 flatbuffers::DetachedBuffer CreateFlatBufferTest(std::string &buffer) {