diff --git a/cli/cmds/cluster_delete.go b/cli/cmds/cluster_delete.go
index 89c63b39..273890bc 100644
--- a/cli/cmds/cluster_delete.go
+++ b/cli/cmds/cluster_delete.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package cmds
 import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
+	"fmt"
 
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
@@ -48,14 +49,22 @@ func delete(appCtx *AppContext) func(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 
 		namespace := appCtx.Namespace(name)
 
-		logrus.Infof("Deleting '%s' cluster in namespace '%s'", name, namespace)
-
 		cluster := v1beta1.Cluster{
 			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
 				Name:      name,
 				Namespace: namespace,
 			},
 		}
+		if err := client.Get(ctx, ctrlclient.ObjectKeyFromObject(&cluster), &cluster); err != nil {
+			if apierrors.IsNotFound(err) {
+				return fmt.Errorf("cluster %q not found in namespace %q", name, namespace)
+			}
+
+			return err
+		}
+
+		logrus.Infof("Deleting '%s' cluster in namespace '%s'", name, namespace)
+
 		// keep bootstrap secrets and tokens if --keep-data flag is passed
 		if keepData {
 			// skip removing tokenSecret
diff --git a/cli/cmds/cluster_delete_test.go b/cli/cmds/cluster_delete_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..298d14bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cli/cmds/cluster_delete_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+package cmds
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client/fake"
+
+	"github.com/rancher/k3k/pkg/apis/k3k.io/v1beta1"
+)
+
+func TestDeleteMissingCluster(t *testing.T) {
+	scheme := runtime.NewScheme()
+	require.NoError(t, v1beta1.AddToScheme(scheme))
+
+	appCtx := &AppContext{Client: fake.NewClientBuilder().WithScheme(scheme).Build()}
+	err := delete(appCtx)(&cobra.Command{}, []string{"missing"})
+
+	require.EqualError(t, err, `cluster "missing" not found in namespace "k3k-missing"`)
+}