diff --git a/dvc/config.py b/dvc/config.py
index 0fd312aa14..65250c76de 100644
--- a/dvc/config.py
+++ b/dvc/config.py
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ class Config(object):  # pylint: disable=too-many-instance-attributes
         SECTION_GDRIVE_CLIENT_SECRET: str,
         SECTION_GDRIVE_USER_CREDENTIALS_FILE: str,
         PRIVATE_CWD: str,
-        Optional(SECTION_REMOTE_NO_TRAVERSE, default=True): Bool,
+        SECTION_REMOTE_NO_TRAVERSE: Bool,
     }
 
     SECTION_STATE = "state"
diff --git a/dvc/remote/base.py b/dvc/remote/base.py
index 4b6a8a5aa1..788742c8c1 100644
--- a/dvc/remote/base.py
+++ b/dvc/remote/base.py
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ class RemoteBASE(object):
     CHECKSUM_DIR_SUFFIX = ".dir"
     CHECKSUM_JOBS = max(1, min(4, cpu_count() // 2))
     DEFAULT_CACHE_TYPES = ["copy"]
+    DEFAULT_NO_TRAVERSE = True
 
     state = StateNoop()
 
@@ -89,7 +90,9 @@ def __init__(self, repo, config):
         self.checksum_jobs = self._get_checksum_jobs(config)
 
         self.protected = False
-        self.no_traverse = config.get(Config.SECTION_REMOTE_NO_TRAVERSE, True)
+        self.no_traverse = config.get(
+            Config.SECTION_REMOTE_NO_TRAVERSE, self.DEFAULT_NO_TRAVERSE
+        )
         self._dir_info = {}
 
         types = config.get(Config.SECTION_CACHE_TYPE, None)
diff --git a/dvc/remote/gdrive.py b/dvc/remote/gdrive.py
index aa87f1bbd0..a38b2a1a2b 100644
--- a/dvc/remote/gdrive.py
+++ b/dvc/remote/gdrive.py
@@ -62,12 +62,13 @@ class RemoteGDrive(RemoteBASE):
     scheme = Schemes.GDRIVE
     path_cls = CloudURLInfo
     REQUIRES = {"pydrive2": "pydrive2"}
+    DEFAULT_NO_TRAVERSE = False
+
     GDRIVE_USER_CREDENTIALS_DATA = "GDRIVE_USER_CREDENTIALS_DATA"
     DEFAULT_USER_CREDENTIALS_FILE = "gdrive-user-credentials.json"
 
     def __init__(self, repo, config):
         super().__init__(repo, config)
-        self.no_traverse = False
         self.path_info = self.path_cls(config[Config.SECTION_REMOTE_URL])
 
         bucket = re.search(
diff --git a/tests/unit/remote/test_gdrive.py b/tests/unit/remote/test_gdrive.py
index 09dc7e62b6..9d7c511e18 100644
--- a/tests/unit/remote/test_gdrive.py
+++ b/tests/unit/remote/test_gdrive.py
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ class TestRemoteGDrive(object):
     def test_init(self):
         remote = RemoteGDrive(Repo(), self.CONFIG)
         assert str(remote.path_info) == self.CONFIG["url"]
+        assert not remote.no_traverse
 
     def test_drive(self):
         remote = RemoteGDrive(Repo(), self.CONFIG)
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_config.py b/tests/unit/test_config.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e5537c6374
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_config.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+from dvc.config import Config
+
+
+def test_remote_config_no_traverse():
+    d = Config.COMPILED_SCHEMA({'remote "myremote"': {"url": "url"}})
+    assert "no_traverse" not in d['remote "myremote"']
+
+    d = Config.COMPILED_SCHEMA(
+        {'remote "myremote"': {"url": "url", "no_traverse": "fAlSe"}}
+    )
+    assert not d['remote "myremote"']["no_traverse"]
+
+    d = Config.COMPILED_SCHEMA(
+        {'remote "myremote"': {"url": "url", "no_traverse": "tRuE"}}
+    )
+    assert d['remote "myremote"']["no_traverse"]