The present invention relates to a method of managing congestion in a multi-path network, the network having a plurality of network elements arranged in a plurality of switch stages and a plurality of network links interconnecting the network elements, the method comprising the steps of detecting congestion on a network link, the congested network link interconnecting the output port of a first network element with a first input port of a second network element in a subsequent switch stage; identifying an uncongested network link connected to a second input port of said second network element; and directing future data packets on a route across the multi-path network which includes the identified uncongested network link. Also provided is a multi-path network and an Ethernet bridge or router incorporating such a multi-path network.