diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
index ac51e8c7..14741ab6 100644
--- a/CHANGES.md
+++ b/CHANGES.md
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@
 ### Improvements
 
 -   Add support to read, write, list, and remove `/vsimem/` files (#457).
+-   Raise specific error when trying to read non-UTF-8 file with
+    `use_arrow=True` (#490).
 
 ### Bug fixes
 
diff --git a/pyogrio/geopandas.py b/pyogrio/geopandas.py
index 11672b25..d1f0dc9d 100644
--- a/pyogrio/geopandas.py
+++ b/pyogrio/geopandas.py
@@ -289,7 +289,15 @@ def read_dataframe(
         kwargs = {"self_destruct": True}
         if arrow_to_pandas_kwargs is not None:
             kwargs.update(arrow_to_pandas_kwargs)
-        df = table.to_pandas(**kwargs)
+
+        try:
+            df = table.to_pandas(**kwargs)
+        except UnicodeDecodeError as ex:
+            # Arrow does not support reading data in a non-UTF-8 encoding
+            raise DataSourceError(
+                "The file being read is not encoded in UTF-8; please use_arrow=False"
+            ) from ex
+
         del table
 
         if fid_as_index:
diff --git a/pyogrio/tests/test_geopandas_io.py b/pyogrio/tests/test_geopandas_io.py
index 0675c197..b08d8f4d 100644
--- a/pyogrio/tests/test_geopandas_io.py
+++ b/pyogrio/tests/test_geopandas_io.py
@@ -93,8 +93,20 @@ def spatialite_available(path):
         return False
 
 
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("encoding", ["utf-8", "cp1252", None])
-def test_read_csv_encoding(tmp_path, encoding):
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "encoding, arrow",
+    [
+        ("utf-8", False),
+        pytest.param("utf-8", True, marks=requires_pyarrow_api),
+        ("cp1252", False),
+        (None, False),
+    ],
+)
+def test_read_csv_encoding(tmp_path, encoding, arrow):
+    """ "Test reading CSV files with different encodings.
+
+    Arrow only supports utf-8 encoding.
+    """
     # Write csv test file. Depending on the os this will be written in a different
     # encoding: for linux and macos this is utf-8, for windows it is cp1252.
     csv_path = tmp_path / "test.csv"
@@ -105,7 +117,7 @@ def test_read_csv_encoding(tmp_path, encoding):
     # Read csv. The data should be read with the same default encoding as the csv file
     # was written in, but should have been converted to utf-8 in the dataframe returned.
     # Hence, the asserts below, with strings in utf-8, be OK.
-    df = read_dataframe(csv_path, encoding=encoding)
+    df = read_dataframe(csv_path, encoding=encoding, use_arrow=arrow)
 
     assert len(df) == 1
     assert df.columns.tolist() == ["näme", "city"]
@@ -117,19 +129,29 @@ def test_read_csv_encoding(tmp_path, encoding):
     locale.getpreferredencoding().upper() == "UTF-8",
     reason="test requires non-UTF-8 default platform",
 )
-def test_read_csv_platform_encoding(tmp_path):
-    """verify that read defaults to platform encoding; only works on Windows (CP1252)"""
+def test_read_csv_platform_encoding(tmp_path, use_arrow):
+    """Verify that read defaults to platform encoding; only works on Windows (CP1252).
+
+    When use_arrow=True, reading an non-UTF8 fails.
+    """
     csv_path = tmp_path / "test.csv"
     with open(csv_path, "w", encoding=locale.getpreferredencoding()) as csv:
         csv.write("näme,city\n")
         csv.write("Wilhelm Röntgen,Zürich\n")
 
-    df = read_dataframe(csv_path)
+    if use_arrow:
+        with pytest.raises(
+            DataSourceError,
+            match="; please use_arrow=False",
+        ):
+            df = read_dataframe(csv_path, use_arrow=use_arrow)
+    else:
+        df = read_dataframe(csv_path, use_arrow=use_arrow)
 
-    assert len(df) == 1
-    assert df.columns.tolist() == ["näme", "city"]
-    assert df.city.tolist() == ["Zürich"]
-    assert df.näme.tolist() == ["Wilhelm Röntgen"]
+        assert len(df) == 1
+        assert df.columns.tolist() == ["näme", "city"]
+        assert df.city.tolist() == ["Zürich"]
+        assert df.näme.tolist() == ["Wilhelm Röntgen"]
 
 
 def test_read_dataframe(naturalearth_lowres_all_ext):
@@ -943,9 +965,20 @@ def test_read_sql_dialect_sqlite_gpkg(naturalearth_lowres, use_arrow):
     assert df.iloc[0].geometry.area > area_canada
 
 
-@pytest.mark.parametrize("encoding", ["utf-8", "cp1252", None])
-def test_write_csv_encoding(tmp_path, encoding):
-    """Test if write_dataframe uses the default encoding correctly."""
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "encoding, arrow",
+    [
+        ("utf-8", False),
+        pytest.param("utf-8", True, marks=requires_arrow_write_api),
+        ("cp1252", False),
+        (None, False),
+    ],
+)
+def test_write_csv_encoding(tmp_path, encoding, arrow):
+    """Test if write_dataframe uses the default encoding correctly.
+
+    Arrow only supports utf-8 encoding.
+    """
     # Write csv test file. Depending on the os this will be written in a different
     # encoding: for linux and macos this is utf-8, for windows it is cp1252.
     csv_path = tmp_path / "test.csv"
@@ -958,7 +991,7 @@ def test_write_csv_encoding(tmp_path, encoding):
     # same encoding as above.
     df = pd.DataFrame({"näme": ["Wilhelm Röntgen"], "city": ["Zürich"]})
     csv_pyogrio_path = tmp_path / "test_pyogrio.csv"
-    write_dataframe(df, csv_pyogrio_path, encoding=encoding)
+    write_dataframe(df, csv_pyogrio_path, encoding=encoding, use_arrow=arrow)
 
     # Check if the text files written both ways can be read again and give same result.
     with open(csv_path, encoding=encoding) as csv:
@@ -2160,7 +2193,10 @@ def test_non_utf8_encoding_io_shapefile(tmp_path, encoded_text, use_arrow):
 
     if use_arrow:
         # pyarrow cannot decode column name with incorrect encoding
-        with pytest.raises(UnicodeDecodeError):
+        with pytest.raises(
+            DataSourceError,
+            match="The file being read is not encoded in UTF-8; please use_arrow=False",
+        ):
             read_dataframe(output_path, use_arrow=True)
     else:
         bad = read_dataframe(output_path, use_arrow=False)