diff --git a/clab/config.go b/clab/config.go
index 7285912fa..5b9106510 100644
--- a/clab/config.go
+++ b/clab/config.go
@@ -194,10 +194,15 @@ func (c *cLab) kindInitialization(nodeCfg *NodeConfig) string {
 }
 
 func (c *cLab) bindsInit(nodeCfg *NodeConfig) []string {
-	if len(nodeCfg.Binds) != 0 {
+	switch {
+	case len(nodeCfg.Binds) != 0:
 		return nodeCfg.Binds
+	case len(c.Config.Topology.Kinds[nodeCfg.Kind].Binds) != 0:
+		return c.Config.Topology.Kinds[nodeCfg.Kind].Binds
+	case len(c.Config.Topology.Defaults.Binds) != 0:
+		return c.Config.Topology.Defaults.Binds
 	}
-	return c.Config.Topology.Kinds[nodeCfg.Kind].Binds
+	return nil
 }
 
 // portsInit produces the nat.PortMap out of the slice of string representation of port bindings
@@ -299,7 +304,14 @@ func (c *cLab) NewNode(nodeName string, nodeCfg NodeConfig, idx int) error {
 	// Kind initialization is either coming from `topology.nodes` section or from `topology.defaults`
 	// normalize the data to lower case to compare
 	node.Kind = strings.ToLower(c.kindInitialization(&nodeCfg))
-	node.Binds = c.bindsInit(&nodeCfg)
+
+	// initialize bind mounts
+	binds := c.bindsInit(&nodeCfg)
+	err := resolveBindPaths(binds)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	node.Binds = binds
 
 	ps, pb, err := c.portsInit(&nodeCfg)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -508,3 +520,19 @@ func resolvePath(p string) (string, error) {
 	}
 	return p, nil
 }
+
+// resolveBindPaths resolves the host paths in a bind string, such as /hostpath:/remotepath(:options) string
+// it allows host path to have `~` and returns absolute path for a relative path
+func resolveBindPaths(binds []string) error {
+	for i := range binds {
+		// host path is a first element in a /hostpath:/remotepath(:options) string
+		elems := strings.Split(binds[i], ":")
+		hp, err := resolvePath(elems[0])
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		elems[0] = hp
+		binds[i] = strings.Join(elems, ":")
+	}
+	return nil
+}
diff --git a/clab/config_test.go b/clab/config_test.go
index bebe60dd5..3727354f0 100644
--- a/clab/config_test.go
+++ b/clab/config_test.go
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 package clab
 
 import (
-	"path/filepath"
+	"reflect"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 )
@@ -54,7 +54,51 @@ func TestLicenseInit(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
-func abspath(s string) string {
-	p, _ := filepath.Abs(s)
-	return p
+func TestBindsInit(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := map[string]struct {
+		got  string
+		want []string
+	}{
+		"node_sing_bind": {
+			got:  "test_data/topo1.yml",
+			want: []string{"/node/src:/dst"},
+		},
+		"node_many_binds": {
+			got:  "test_data/topo2.yml",
+			want: []string{"/node/src1:/dst1", "/node/src2:/dst2"},
+		},
+		"kind_binds": {
+			got:  "test_data/topo5.yml",
+			want: []string{"/kind/src:/dst"},
+		},
+		"default_binds": {
+			got:  "test_data/topo3.yml",
+			want: []string{"/default/src:/dst"},
+		},
+		"node_binds_override": {
+			got:  "test_data/topo4.yml",
+			want: []string{"/node/src:/dst"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for name, tc := range tests {
+		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			opts := []ClabOption{
+				WithTopoFile(tc.got),
+			}
+			c := NewContainerLab(opts...)
+			if err := c.ParseTopology(); err != nil {
+				t.Fatal(err)
+			}
+
+			nodeCfg := c.Config.Topology.Nodes["node1"]
+			node := Node{}
+			node.Kind = strings.ToLower(c.kindInitialization(&nodeCfg))
+
+			binds := c.bindsInit(&nodeCfg)
+			if !reflect.DeepEqual(binds, tc.want) {
+				t.Fatalf("wanted %q got %q", tc.want, binds)
+			}
+		})
+	}
 }
diff --git a/clab/test_data/topo1.yml b/clab/test_data/topo1.yml
index 5d763d4be..b8ffd637e 100644
--- a/clab/test_data/topo1.yml
+++ b/clab/test_data/topo1.yml
@@ -5,3 +5,5 @@ topology:
       kind: srl
       type: ixr6
       license: node1.lic
+      binds:
+        - /node/src:/dst
diff --git a/clab/test_data/topo2.yml b/clab/test_data/topo2.yml
index 275de87ef..4aaf63eb1 100644
--- a/clab/test_data/topo2.yml
+++ b/clab/test_data/topo2.yml
@@ -7,3 +7,6 @@ topology:
     node1:
       kind: srl
       type: ixr6
+      binds:
+        - /node/src1:/dst1
+        - /node/src2:/dst2
diff --git a/clab/test_data/topo3.yml b/clab/test_data/topo3.yml
index 6996e1f5d..6f2979772 100644
--- a/clab/test_data/topo3.yml
+++ b/clab/test_data/topo3.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ name: topo3
 topology:
   defaults:
     license: default.lic
+    binds:
+      - /default/src:/dst
   nodes:
     node1:
       kind: srl
diff --git a/clab/test_data/topo4.yml b/clab/test_data/topo4.yml
index 8e47f1566..056ac8956 100644
--- a/clab/test_data/topo4.yml
+++ b/clab/test_data/topo4.yml
@@ -1,12 +1,18 @@
-name: topo3
+name: topo4
 topology:
   defaults:
     license: default.lic
+    binds:
+      - /default/src:/dst
   kinds:
     srl:
       license: kind.lic
+      binds:
+        - /kind/src:/dst
   nodes:
     node1:
       kind: srl
       type: ixr6
       license: node1.lic
+      binds:
+        - /node/src:/dst
diff --git a/clab/test_data/topo5.yml b/clab/test_data/topo5.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7c6e1ad26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/clab/test_data/topo5.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+name: topo5
+topology:
+  kinds:
+    srl:
+      binds:
+        - /kind/src:/dst
+  nodes:
+    node1:
+      kind: srl
+      type: ixr6
+      license: node1.lic