diff --git a/ci/msvc-build.bat b/ci/msvc-build.bat
index 2a537769f82fc..04fe2ab62cbd4 100644
--- a/ci/msvc-build.bat
+++ b/ci/msvc-build.bat
@@ -114,6 +114,9 @@ popd
 @rem see PARQUET-1018
 
 pushd python
+
+set PYARROW_CXXFLAGS=/WX
 python setup.py build_ext --inplace --with-parquet --bundle-arrow-cpp bdist_wheel  || exit /B
 py.test pyarrow -v -s --parquet || exit /B
+
 popd
diff --git a/ci/travis_script_python.sh b/ci/travis_script_python.sh
index 907bc60cd719e..9135aaf38e4e7 100755
--- a/ci/travis_script_python.sh
+++ b/ci/travis_script_python.sh
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ source $TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR/ci/travis_env_common.sh
 export ARROW_HOME=$ARROW_CPP_INSTALL
 export PARQUET_HOME=$TRAVIS_BUILD_DIR/parquet-env
 export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ARROW_HOME/lib:$PARQUET_HOME/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
+export PYARROW_CXXFLAGS="-Werror"
 
 build_parquet_cpp() {
   export PARQUET_ARROW_VERSION=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
diff --git a/python/CMakeLists.txt b/python/CMakeLists.txt
index 846e4dd5f6eaf..bfae157ed6b9c 100644
--- a/python/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/python/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ if("${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}" STREQUAL "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}")
   option(PYARROW_BUNDLE_ARROW_CPP
     "Bundle the Arrow C++ libraries"
     OFF)
+  set(PYARROW_CXXFLAGS "" CACHE STRING
+    "Compiler flags to append when compiling Arrow")
 endif()
 
 find_program(CCACHE_FOUND ccache)
@@ -75,6 +77,7 @@ include(CompilerInfo)
 
 # Add common flags
 set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CXX_COMMON_FLAGS} ${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS}")
+set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} ${PYARROW_CXXFLAGS}")
 
 if (NOT MSVC)
   # Enable perf and other tools to work properly
@@ -82,6 +85,13 @@ if (NOT MSVC)
 
   # Suppress Cython warnings
   set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wno-unused-variable")
+else()
+  # MSVC version of -Wno-return-type-c-linkage
+  set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} /wd4190")
+
+  # Cython generates some bitshift expressions that MSVC does not like in
+  # __Pyx_PyFloat_DivideObjC
+  set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} /wd4293")
 endif()
 
 if ("${COMPILER_FAMILY}" STREQUAL "clang")
@@ -95,6 +105,7 @@ if ("${COMPILER_FAMILY}" STREQUAL "clang")
   # Cython warnings in clang
   set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wno-parentheses-equality")
   set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wno-constant-logical-operand")
+  set(CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS "${CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS} -Wno-missing-declarations")
 
   # We have public Cython APIs which return C++ types, which are in an extern
   # "C" blog (no symbol mangling) and clang doesn't like this
diff --git a/python/doc/source/development.rst b/python/doc/source/development.rst
index 55b3efdad17c6..d0a1c544dd091 100644
--- a/python/doc/source/development.rst
+++ b/python/doc/source/development.rst
@@ -267,7 +267,6 @@ Now, we build and install Arrow C++ libraries
          -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=%ARROW_HOME% ^
          -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ^
          -DARROW_BUILD_TESTS=off ^
-         -DARROW_ZLIB_VENDORED=off ^
          -DARROW_PYTHON=on ..
    cmake --build . --target INSTALL --config Release
    cd ..\..
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/_parquet.pyx b/python/pyarrow/_parquet.pyx
index aef661818f401..c940122da5dcf 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/_parquet.pyx
+++ b/python/pyarrow/_parquet.pyx
@@ -636,7 +636,7 @@ cdef class ParquetWriter:
         elif row_group_size == 0:
             raise ValueError('Row group size cannot be 0')
 
-        cdef int c_row_group_size = row_group_size
+        cdef int64_t c_row_group_size = row_group_size
 
         with nogil:
             check_status(self.writer.get()
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd b/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd
index ffe867b0af0f5..db6770f586bd5 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd
+++ b/python/pyarrow/includes/libarrow.pxd
@@ -369,7 +369,7 @@ cdef extern from "arrow/api.h" namespace "arrow" nogil:
             shared_ptr[CTable]* table)
 
         int num_columns()
-        int num_rows()
+        int64_t num_rows()
 
         c_bool Equals(const CTable& other)
 
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/io.pxi b/python/pyarrow/io.pxi
index 9e4e9078ceb35..01c987d286f92 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/io.pxi
+++ b/python/pyarrow/io.pxi
@@ -923,7 +923,7 @@ cdef class _HdfsClient:
         cdef c_string c_path = tobytes(path)
         with nogil:
             check_status(self.client.get()
-                         .Delete(c_path, recursive))
+                         .Delete(c_path, recursive == 1))
 
     def open(self, path, mode='rb', buffer_size=None, replication=None,
              default_block_size=None):
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/scalar.pxi b/python/pyarrow/scalar.pxi
index dec5341ca4ad1..1f72070cb7e12 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/scalar.pxi
+++ b/python/pyarrow/scalar.pxi
@@ -169,7 +169,6 @@ cdef class Time64Value(ArrayValue):
             CTime64Type* dtype = <CTime64Type*> ap.type().get()
 
         cdef int64_t val = ap.Value(self.index)
-        print(val)
         if dtype.unit() == TimeUnit_MICRO:
             return (datetime.datetime(1970, 1, 1) +
                     datetime.timedelta(microseconds=val)).time()
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/table.pxi b/python/pyarrow/table.pxi
index c1d5a50d487a3..6277761b7d6ec 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/table.pxi
+++ b/python/pyarrow/table.pxi
@@ -286,7 +286,7 @@ cdef int _schema_from_arrays(
         c_string c_name
         vector[shared_ptr[CField]] fields
         shared_ptr[CDataType] type_
-        int K = len(arrays)
+        Py_ssize_t K = len(arrays)
 
     fields.resize(K)
 
@@ -733,7 +733,7 @@ cdef class Table:
             vector[shared_ptr[CColumn]] columns
             shared_ptr[CSchema] schema
             shared_ptr[CTable] table
-            size_t K = len(arrays)
+            int i, K = <int> len(arrays)
 
         _schema_from_arrays(arrays, names, metadata, &schema)
 
@@ -841,7 +841,7 @@ cdef class Table:
         self._check_nullptr()
         return pyarrow_wrap_schema(self.table.schema())
 
-    def column(self, int64_t i):
+    def column(self, int i):
         """
         Select a column by its numeric index.
 
@@ -855,8 +855,8 @@ cdef class Table:
         """
         cdef:
             Column column = Column()
-            int64_t num_columns = self.num_columns
-            int64_t index
+            int num_columns = self.num_columns
+            int index
 
         self._check_nullptr()
         if not -num_columns <= i < num_columns:
diff --git a/python/pyarrow/types.pxi b/python/pyarrow/types.pxi
index a8d7aa0ee8122..fefde55bc2f95 100644
--- a/python/pyarrow/types.pxi
+++ b/python/pyarrow/types.pxi
@@ -281,12 +281,12 @@ cdef class Schema:
     def __len__(self):
         return self.schema.num_fields()
 
-    def __getitem__(self, int64_t i):
+    def __getitem__(self, int i):
 
         cdef:
             Field result = Field()
-            int64_t num_fields = self.schema.num_fields()
-            int64_t index
+            int num_fields = self.schema.num_fields()
+            int index
 
         if not -num_fields <= i < num_fields:
             raise IndexError(
@@ -456,7 +456,7 @@ def field(name, DataType type, bint nullable=True, dict metadata=None):
         convert_metadata(metadata, &c_meta)
 
     result.sp_field.reset(new CField(tobytes(name), type.sp_type,
-                                     nullable, c_meta))
+                                     nullable == 1, c_meta))
     result.field = result.sp_field.get()
     result.type = type
     return result
diff --git a/python/setup.py b/python/setup.py
index 801cd17f440ec..ebf28cc64e990 100644
--- a/python/setup.py
+++ b/python/setup.py
@@ -92,6 +92,8 @@ def initialize_options(self):
         self.extra_cmake_args = os.environ.get('PYARROW_CMAKE_OPTIONS', '')
         self.build_type = os.environ.get('PYARROW_BUILD_TYPE', 'debug').lower()
 
+        self.cmake_cxxflags = os.environ.get('PYARROW_CXXFLAGS', '')
+
         if sys.platform == 'win32':
             # Cannot do debug builds in Windows unless Python itself is a debug
             # build
@@ -146,6 +148,10 @@ def _run_cmake(self):
         if self.with_plasma:
             cmake_options.append('-DPYARROW_BUILD_PLASMA=on')
 
+        if len(self.cmake_cxxflags) > 0:
+            cmake_options.append('-DPYARROW_CXXFLAGS="{0}"'
+                                 .format(self.cmake_cxxflags))
+
         if self.bundle_arrow_cpp:
             cmake_options.append('-DPYARROW_BUNDLE_ARROW_CPP=ON')
             # ARROW-1090: work around CMake rough edges