diff --git a/doc/Manual.md b/doc/Manual.md
index 27274a9f4..6d4d1f513 100644
--- a/doc/Manual.md
+++ b/doc/Manual.md
@@ -326,18 +326,16 @@ credentials.
 Once the server is configured, the setup of the SFTP repository can simply be
 achieved by changing the URL scheme in the `init` command:
 
-    $ restic -r sftp://user@host//tmp/backup init
+    $ restic -r sftp:user@host:/tmp/backup init
     enter password for new backend:
     enter password again:
-    created restic backend f1c6108821 at sftp://user@host//tmp/backup
+    created restic backend f1c6108821 at sftp:user@host:/tmp/backup
     Please note that knowledge of your password is required to access the repository.
     Losing your password means that your data is irrecoverably lost.
 
-Yes, that's really two slash (`/`) characters after the host name, here the
-directory `/tmp/backup` on the server is meant. If you'd rather like to create
-a repository in the user's home directory on the server, use the location
-`sftp://user@host/foo/bar/repo`. In this case the directory is relative to the
-user's home directory: `foo/bar/repo`.
+You can also specify a relative (read: no slash (`/`) character at the
+beginning) directory, in this case the dir is relative to the remote user's
+home directory.
 
 # Create an Amazon S3 repository
 
@@ -348,15 +346,16 @@ Restic can backup data to any Amazon S3 bucket. However, in this case, changing
 
 You can then easily initialize a repository that uses your Amazon S3 as a backend.
 
-    $ restic -r s3://s3.amazonaws.com/bucket_name init
+    $ restic -r s3:eu-central-1/bucket_name init
     enter password for new backend:
     enter password again:
-    created restic backend eefee03bbd at s3://s3.amazonaws.com/bucket_name
+    created restic backend eefee03bbd at s3:eu-central-1/bucket_name
     Please note that knowledge of your password is required to access the repository.
     Losing your password means that your data is irrecoverably lost.
 
-For an S3-compatible repository without TLS available, use the alternative URI
-protocol `s3:http://server:port/bucket_name`.
+Fro an s3-compatible server that is not Amazon (like Minio, see below), or is
+only available via HTTP, you can specify the URL to the server like this:
+`s3:http://server:port/bucket_name`.
 
 ## Create a Minio Server repository
 
diff --git a/src/restic/backend/sftp/sftp.go b/src/restic/backend/sftp/sftp.go
index 4279b8d5a..801c3075a 100644
--- a/src/restic/backend/sftp/sftp.go
+++ b/src/restic/backend/sftp/sftp.go
@@ -8,13 +8,14 @@ import (
 	"log"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
-	"path/filepath"
+	"path"
 	"strings"
 
+	"restic/backend"
+	"restic/debug"
+
 	"github.com/juju/errors"
 	"github.com/pkg/sftp"
-	"restic/backend"
-	"restic/debug"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -78,7 +79,8 @@ func paths(dir string) []string {
 
 // Open opens an sftp backend. When the command is started via
 // exec.Command, it is expected to speak sftp on stdin/stdout. The backend
-// is expected at the given path.
+// is expected at the given path. `dir` must be delimited by forward slashes
+// ("/"), which is required by sftp.
 func Open(dir string, program string, args ...string) (*SFTP, error) {
 	sftp, err := startClient(program, args...)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -118,7 +120,8 @@ func OpenWithConfig(cfg Config) (*SFTP, error) {
 }
 
 // Create creates all the necessary files and directories for a new sftp
-// backend at dir. Afterwards a new config blob should be created.
+// backend at dir. Afterwards a new config blob should be created. `dir` must
+// be delimited by forward slashes ("/"), which is required by sftp.
 func Create(dir string, program string, args ...string) (*SFTP, error) {
 	sftp, err := startClient(program, args...)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -199,7 +202,7 @@ func (r *SFTP) mkdirAll(dir string, mode os.FileMode) error {
 	}
 
 	// create parent directories
-	errMkdirAll := r.mkdirAll(filepath.Dir(dir), backend.Modes.Dir)
+	errMkdirAll := r.mkdirAll(path.Dir(dir), backend.Modes.Dir)
 
 	// create directory
 	errMkdir := r.c.Mkdir(dir)
@@ -225,7 +228,7 @@ func (r *SFTP) renameFile(oldname string, t backend.Type, name string) error {
 
 	// create directories if necessary
 	if t == backend.Data {
-		err := r.mkdirAll(filepath.Dir(filename), backend.Modes.Dir)
+		err := r.mkdirAll(path.Dir(filename), backend.Modes.Dir)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
@@ -250,9 +253,10 @@ func (r *SFTP) renameFile(oldname string, t backend.Type, name string) error {
 	return r.c.Chmod(filename, fi.Mode()&os.FileMode(^uint32(0222)))
 }
 
-// Join joins the given paths and cleans them afterwards.
+// Join joins the given paths and cleans them afterwards. This always uses
+// forward slashes, which is required by sftp.
 func Join(parts ...string) string {
-	return filepath.Clean(strings.Join(parts, "/"))
+	return path.Clean(path.Join(parts...))
 }
 
 // Construct path for given backend.Type and name.
@@ -339,7 +343,7 @@ func (r *SFTP) Save(h backend.Handle, p []byte) (err error) {
 
 	err = r.renameFile(filename, h.Type, h.Name)
 	debug.Log("sftp.Save", "save %v: rename %v: %v",
-		h, filepath.Base(filename), err)
+		h, path.Base(filename), err)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("sftp: renameFile: %v", err)
 	}