diff --git a/packages/modules/mssqlserver/src/mssqlserver-container.test.ts b/packages/modules/mssqlserver/src/mssqlserver-container.test.ts
index 5c888c244..abb4af737 100644
--- a/packages/modules/mssqlserver/src/mssqlserver-container.test.ts
+++ b/packages/modules/mssqlserver/src/mssqlserver-container.test.ts
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ describe("MSSQLServerContainer", { timeout: 180_000 }, () => {
   it("should throw error with invalid password", async () => {
     const container = new MSSQLServerContainer(IMAGE).acceptLicense().withPassword("password");
     await expect(container.start()).rejects.toThrow(
-      Error('Log stream ended and message "/.*Recovery is complete.*/" was not received')
+      'Log stream ended and message "/.*Recovery is complete.*/" was not received'
     );
   });
 
diff --git a/packages/testcontainers/src/container-runtime/clients/container/docker-container-client.test.ts b/packages/testcontainers/src/container-runtime/clients/container/docker-container-client.test.ts
index 7d55b4715..c36c57679 100644
--- a/packages/testcontainers/src/container-runtime/clients/container/docker-container-client.test.ts
+++ b/packages/testcontainers/src/container-runtime/clients/container/docker-container-client.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 import { PassThrough, type Readable } from "node:stream";
+import { text } from "node:stream/consumers";
 import type Dockerode from "dockerode";
 import { DockerContainerClient } from "./docker-container-client";
 
@@ -22,6 +23,41 @@ describe("DockerContainerClient", () => {
 
       await vi.waitFor(() => expect(actualLogStream.destroyed).toBe(true));
     });
+
+    it("should end the log stream after the current logs when not following", async () => {
+      const container = {
+        id: "container-id",
+        logs: vi.fn(async () => Buffer.from("first line\nsecond line\n")),
+      };
+      const dockerode = {
+        modem: {
+          demuxStream: (raw: Readable, stdout: PassThrough) => raw.on("data", (chunk) => stdout.write(chunk)),
+        },
+      } as unknown as Dockerode;
+      const client = new DockerContainerClient(dockerode);
+
+      const stream = await client.logs(container as unknown as Dockerode.Container, { follow: false });
+
+      expect(await text(stream)).toBe("first line\nsecond line\n");
+      expect(container.logs).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.objectContaining({ follow: false }));
+    });
+
+    it("should return logs that docker-modem parsed as JSON when not following", async () => {
+      const container = {
+        id: "container-id",
+        logs: vi.fn(async () => ({ level: "fatal" })),
+      };
+      const dockerode = {
+        modem: {
+          demuxStream: (raw: Readable, stdout: PassThrough) => raw.on("data", (chunk) => stdout.write(chunk)),
+        },
+      } as unknown as Dockerode;
+      const client = new DockerContainerClient(dockerode);
+
+      const stream = await client.logs(container as unknown as Dockerode.Container, { follow: false });
+
+      expect(await text(stream)).toBe('{"level":"fatal"}');
+    });
   });
 
   describe("exec", () => {
diff --git a/packages/testcontainers/src/container-runtime/clients/container/docker-container-client.ts b/packages/testcontainers/src/container-runtime/clients/container/docker-container-client.ts
index bcf21d381..827305b74 100644
--- a/packages/testcontainers/src/container-runtime/clients/container/docker-container-client.ts
+++ b/packages/testcontainers/src/container-runtime/clients/container/docker-container-client.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import type { IncomingMessage } from "node:http";
-import { type Duplex, PassThrough, type Readable } from "node:stream";
+import { type Duplex, PassThrough, Readable } from "node:stream";
 import { finished } from "node:stream/promises";
 import type Dockerode from "dockerode";
 import type {
@@ -176,18 +176,22 @@ export class DockerContainerClient implements ContainerClient {
     const proxyStream = new PassThrough();
     proxyStream.setEncoding("utf8");
 
-    container
-      .logs({
-        follow: true,
-        stdout: true,
-        stderr: true,
-        tail: opts?.tail ?? -1,
-        since: opts?.since ?? 0,
-      })
-      .then(async (stream) => {
-        const actualLogStream = stream as IncomingMessage;
-        actualLogStream.socket?.unref();
-
+    const logsOpts = { stdout: true, stderr: true, tail: opts?.tail ?? -1, since: opts?.since ?? 0 };
+    // docker-modem parses a non-streamed body that is valid JSON, which unframed (TTY) logs can be.
+    const toBuffer = (logs: unknown) => (Buffer.isBuffer(logs) ? logs : Buffer.from(JSON.stringify(logs)));
+    const logStream: Promise<Readable> =
+      opts?.follow === false
+        ? container
+            .logs({ ...logsOpts, follow: false })
+            .then((logs) => Readable.from([toBuffer(logs)], { objectMode: false }))
+        : container.logs({ ...logsOpts, follow: true }).then((stream) => {
+            const actualLogStream = stream as IncomingMessage;
+            actualLogStream.socket?.unref();
+            return actualLogStream;
+          });
+
+    logStream
+      .then(async (actualLogStream) => {
         const demuxedStream = await this.demuxStream(container.id, actualLogStream);
         if (proxyStream.destroyed) {
           demuxedStream.destroy();
diff --git a/packages/testcontainers/src/generic-container/generic-container-restart.test.ts b/packages/testcontainers/src/generic-container/generic-container-restart.test.ts
index 36d7970a8..b15cd6724 100644
--- a/packages/testcontainers/src/generic-container/generic-container-restart.test.ts
+++ b/packages/testcontainers/src/generic-container/generic-container-restart.test.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import { RandomUuid } from "../common";
 import { checkContainerIsHealthy } from "../utils/test-helper";
+import { Wait } from "../wait-strategies/wait";
 import { GenericContainer } from "./generic-container";
 
 describe("GenericContainer restart", { timeout: 180_000 }, () => {
@@ -28,4 +29,21 @@ describe("GenericContainer restart", { timeout: 180_000 }, () => {
     await checkContainerIsHealthy(container);
     expect((await container.exec(["cat", "config.txt"])).output).toEqual(expect.stringContaining("testconfig"));
   });
+
+  it("should include the container logs since the restart in the error when the restart fails", async () => {
+    const container = await new GenericContainer("cristianrgreco/testcontainer:1.1.14")
+      .withCommand([
+        "/bin/sh",
+        "-c",
+        "if [ -f /tmp/started ]; then echo 'second start'; exit 1; fi; touch /tmp/started; echo 'first start'; sleep infinity",
+      ])
+      .withWaitStrategy(Wait.forLogMessage("first start"))
+      .start();
+
+    await expect(container.restart()).rejects.toThrow(
+      new Error(
+        'Log stream ended and message "first start" was not received\nContainer logs (last 50 lines):\nsecond start'
+      )
+    );
+  });
 });
diff --git a/packages/testcontainers/src/generic-container/generic-container.test.ts b/packages/testcontainers/src/generic-container/generic-container.test.ts
index 805de6c97..151b9d0ae 100644
--- a/packages/testcontainers/src/generic-container/generic-container.test.ts
+++ b/packages/testcontainers/src/generic-container/generic-container.test.ts
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 import path from "node:path";
 import archiver from "archiver";
+import type { Container } from "dockerode";
 import getPort from "get-port";
 import { RandomUuid } from "../common";
 import { getContainerRuntimeClient } from "../container-runtime";
+import type { BoundPorts } from "../utils/bound-ports";
 import { PullPolicy } from "../utils/pull-policy";
 import {
   checkContainerIsHealthy,
@@ -13,6 +15,7 @@ import {
   waitForDockerEvent,
 } from "../utils/test-helper";
 import { Wait } from "../wait-strategies/wait";
+import { AbstractWaitStrategy } from "../wait-strategies/wait-strategy";
 import { GenericContainer } from "./generic-container";
 
 describe("GenericContainer", { timeout: 180_000 }, () => {
@@ -692,6 +695,22 @@ describe("GenericContainer", { timeout: 180_000 }, () => {
     expect(container.getHostname()).toEqual("hostname");
   });
 
+  it("should include the container logs in the error when the container fails to become ready", async () => {
+    const waitStrategy = new (class extends AbstractWaitStrategy {
+      public async waitUntilReady(container: Container, boundPorts: BoundPorts): Promise<void> {
+        await Wait.forLogMessage("connecting to database").waitUntilReady(container, boundPorts);
+        throw new Error("Container is not ready");
+      }
+    })();
+
+    await expect(
+      new GenericContainer("cristianrgreco/testcontainer:1.1.14")
+        .withCommand(["/bin/sh", "-c", "echo 'connecting to database'; sleep infinity"])
+        .withWaitStrategy(waitStrategy)
+        .start()
+    ).rejects.toThrow(new Error("Container is not ready\nContainer logs (last 50 lines):\nconnecting to database"));
+  });
+
   // failing to build an image hangs within the DockerImageClient.build method,
   // that change might be larger so leave it out of this commit but skip the failing test
   it.skip("should throw an error for a target stage that does not exist", async () => {
diff --git a/packages/testcontainers/src/wait-strategies/wait-for-container.ts b/packages/testcontainers/src/wait-strategies/wait-for-container.ts
index ca8a3f190..156822642 100644
--- a/packages/testcontainers/src/wait-strategies/wait-for-container.ts
+++ b/packages/testcontainers/src/wait-strategies/wait-for-container.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
+import { text } from "node:stream/consumers";
 import type { Container } from "dockerode";
 import { log } from "../common";
 import type { ContainerRuntimeClient } from "../container-runtime";
 import type { BoundPorts } from "../utils/bound-ports";
 import type { WaitStrategy } from "./wait-strategy";
 
+const LOG_TAIL = 50;
+
 export const waitForContainer = async (
   client: ContainerRuntimeClient,
   container: Container,
@@ -18,6 +21,7 @@ export const waitForContainer = async (
     log.info(`Container is ready`, { containerId: container.id });
   } catch (err) {
     log.error(`Container failed to be ready: ${err}`, { containerId: container.id });
+    await appendContainerLogs(client, container, err, startTime);
     try {
       await client.container.stop(container, { timeout: 0 });
       await client.container.remove(container, { removeVolumes: true });
@@ -27,3 +31,38 @@ export const waitForContainer = async (
     throw err;
   }
 };
+
+const appendContainerLogs = async (
+  client: ContainerRuntimeClient,
+  container: Container,
+  err: unknown,
+  startTime?: Date
+): Promise<void> => {
+  if (!(err instanceof Error)) {
+    return;
+  }
+
+  try {
+    const stream = await client.container.logs(container, {
+      follow: false,
+      tail: LOG_TAIL,
+      since: startTime ? startTime.getTime() / 1000 : 0,
+    });
+    const logs = (await text(stream)).trimEnd();
+
+    if (logs.length === 0 || withoutWhitespace(err.message).includes(withoutWhitespace(logs))) {
+      return;
+    }
+
+    const header = String(err);
+    const { stack } = err;
+    err.message = `${err.message}\nContainer logs (last ${LOG_TAIL} lines):\n${logs}`;
+    if (stack?.startsWith(header)) {
+      err.stack = `${err}${stack.slice(header.length)}`;
+    }
+  } catch (logsErr) {
+    log.warn(`Failed to add container logs to the error: ${logsErr}`, { containerId: container.id });
+  }
+};
+
+const withoutWhitespace = (value: string): string => value.replace(/\s+/g, "");