diff --git a/awswrangler/redshift.py b/awswrangler/redshift.py
index 54f9d6d5f..1e40e1acc 100644
--- a/awswrangler/redshift.py
+++ b/awswrangler/redshift.py
@@ -33,17 +33,75 @@ def __init__(self, session):
         self._session = session
 
     @staticmethod
-    def generate_connection(database, host, port, user, password):
-        conn = pg8000.connect(
-            database=database,
-            host=host,
-            port=int(port),
-            user=user,
-            password=password,
-            ssl=False,
-        )
+    def _validate_connection(database,
+                             host,
+                             port,
+                             user,
+                             password,
+                             tcp_keepalive=True,
+                             application_name="aws-data-wrangler-validation",
+                             validation_timeout=5):
+        try:
+            conn = pg8000.connect(database=database,
+                                  host=host,
+                                  port=int(port),
+                                  user=user,
+                                  password=password,
+                                  ssl=True,
+                                  application_name=application_name,
+                                  tcp_keepalive=tcp_keepalive,
+                                  timeout=validation_timeout)
+            conn.close()
+        except pg8000.core.InterfaceError as e:
+            raise e
+
+    @staticmethod
+    def generate_connection(database,
+                            host,
+                            port,
+                            user,
+                            password,
+                            tcp_keepalive=True,
+                            application_name="aws-data-wrangler",
+                            connection_timeout=1_200_000,
+                            statement_timeout=1_200_000,
+                            validation_timeout=5):
+        """
+        Generates a valid connection object to be passed to the load_table method
+
+        :param database: The name of the database instance to connect with.
+        :param host: The hostname of the Redshift server to connect with.
+        :param port: The TCP/IP port of the Redshift server instance.
+        :param user: The username to connect to the Redshift server with.
+        :param password: The user password to connect to the server with.
+        :param tcp_keepalive: If True then use TCP keepalive
+        :param application_name: Application name
+        :param connection_timeout: Connection Timeout
+        :param statement_timeout: Redshift statements timeout
+        :param validation_timeout: Timeout to try to validate the connection
+        :return: pg8000 connection
+        """
+        Redshift._validate_connection(database=database,
+                                      host=host,
+                                      port=port,
+                                      user=user,
+                                      password=password,
+                                      tcp_keepalive=tcp_keepalive,
+                                      application_name=application_name,
+                                      validation_timeout=validation_timeout)
+        if isinstance(type(port), str) or isinstance(type(port), float):
+            port = int(port)
+        conn = pg8000.connect(database=database,
+                              host=host,
+                              port=int(port),
+                              user=user,
+                              password=password,
+                              ssl=True,
+                              application_name=application_name,
+                              tcp_keepalive=tcp_keepalive,
+                              timeout=connection_timeout)
         cursor = conn.cursor()
-        cursor.execute("set statement_timeout = 1200000")
+        cursor.execute(f"set statement_timeout = {statement_timeout}")
         conn.commit()
         cursor.close()
         return conn
diff --git a/testing/test_awswrangler/test_redshift.py b/testing/test_awswrangler/test_redshift.py
index f54a00420..679ebd049 100644
--- a/testing/test_awswrangler/test_redshift.py
+++ b/testing/test_awswrangler/test_redshift.py
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 import boto3
 import pandas
 from pyspark.sql import SparkSession
+import pg8000
 
 from awswrangler import Session, Redshift
 from awswrangler.exceptions import InvalidRedshiftDiststyle, InvalidRedshiftDistkey, InvalidRedshiftSortstyle, InvalidRedshiftSortkey
@@ -267,3 +268,33 @@ def test_write_load_manifest(session, bucket):
     assert manifest.get("entries")[0].get("url") == object_path
     assert manifest.get("entries")[0].get("mandatory")
     assert manifest.get("entries")[0].get("meta").get("content_length") == 2247
+
+
+def test_connection_timeout(redshift_parameters):
+    with pytest.raises(pg8000.core.InterfaceError):
+        Redshift.generate_connection(
+            database="test",
+            host=redshift_parameters.get("RedshiftAddress"),
+            port=12345,
+            user="test",
+            password=redshift_parameters.get("RedshiftPassword"),
+        )
+
+
+def test_connection_with_different_port_types(redshift_parameters):
+    conn = Redshift.generate_connection(
+        database="test",
+        host=redshift_parameters.get("RedshiftAddress"),
+        port=str(redshift_parameters.get("RedshiftPort")),
+        user="test",
+        password=redshift_parameters.get("RedshiftPassword"),
+    )
+    conn.close()
+    conn = Redshift.generate_connection(
+        database="test",
+        host=redshift_parameters.get("RedshiftAddress"),
+        port=float(redshift_parameters.get("RedshiftPort")),
+        user="test",
+        password=redshift_parameters.get("RedshiftPassword"),
+    )
+    conn.close()