diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index f68d303b509..32b0bba580d 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -1,12 +1,10 @@
-language: python
-python: 2.7
+os: osx
+# No version of Python is available via virtualenv on OS X workers, see https://github.com/travis-ci/travis-ci/issues/2312
+language: generic
 
-matrix:
-  include:
-    - os: osx
-      # No version of Python is available via virtualenv on OS X workers, see https://github.com/travis-ci/travis-ci/issues/2312
-      language: generic
-      env: TOX_ENV=py27-first_startup
+env:
+  - TOX_ENV=py27-first_startup
+  - TOX_ENV=py35-first_startup
 
 install:
   - set -e
@@ -17,6 +15,13 @@ install:
         wget -q https://github.com/jmchilton/galaxy-downloads/raw/master/db_gx_rev_0127.sqlite
         mv db_gx_rev_0127.sqlite database/universe.sqlite
         sh manage_db.sh -c ./config/galaxy.yml.sample upgrade
+    elif [ "$TOX_ENV" == "py35-first_startup" ]; then
+        MINICONDA_URL="https://repo.anaconda.com/miniconda"
+        MINICONDA_FILE="Miniconda3-latest-MacOSX-x86_64.sh"
+        curl -L -O "${MINICONDA_URL}/${MINICONDA_FILE}"
+        bash $MINICONDA_FILE -b
+        ~/miniconda3/bin/conda create --yes --override-channels --channel conda-forge --channel defaults --name _galaxy_ 'python=3.5' 'pip>=9' 'virtualenv>=16'
+        . ~/miniconda3/bin/activate _galaxy_
     fi
 
 script: tox -e $TOX_ENV