diff --git a/.changelog/8161.txt b/.changelog/8161.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ca2c462d57c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/8161.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:enhancement
+increase default timeout for instance operations to 1 hour
+```
diff --git a/google/services/bigtable/resource_bigtable_instance.go b/google/services/bigtable/resource_bigtable_instance.go
index 362fe549758..57e209a7fc2 100644
--- a/google/services/bigtable/resource_bigtable_instance.go
+++ b/google/services/bigtable/resource_bigtable_instance.go
@@ -31,8 +31,8 @@ func ResourceBigtableInstance() *schema.Resource {
 		},
 
 		Timeouts: &schema.ResourceTimeout{
-			Create: schema.DefaultTimeout(20 * time.Minute),
-			Update: schema.DefaultTimeout(20 * time.Minute),
+			Create: schema.DefaultTimeout(60 * time.Minute),
+			Update: schema.DefaultTimeout(60 * time.Minute),
 		},
 
 		CustomizeDiff: customdiff.All(
diff --git a/website/docs/r/bigtable_instance.html.markdown b/website/docs/r/bigtable_instance.html.markdown
index 65180545ac7..a7ccdaeed17 100644
--- a/website/docs/r/bigtable_instance.html.markdown
+++ b/website/docs/r/bigtable_instance.html.markdown
@@ -148,8 +148,10 @@ In addition to the arguments listed above, the following computed attributes are
 This resource provides the following
 [Timeouts](https://developer.hashicorp.com/terraform/plugin/sdkv2/resources/retries-and-customizable-timeouts) configuration options:
 
-- `create` - Default is 20 minutes.
-- `update` - Default is 20 minutes.
+- `create` - Default is 60 minutes.
+- `update` - Default is 60 minutes.
+
+Adding clusters to existing instances can take a long time. Consider setting a higher value to timeouts if you plan on doing that.
 
 ## Import