diff --git a/samples/Sentry.Samples.OpenTelemetry.Console/Program.cs b/samples/Sentry.Samples.OpenTelemetry.Console/Program.cs
index 3371ec0cde..9438978130 100644
--- a/samples/Sentry.Samples.OpenTelemetry.Console/Program.cs
+++ b/samples/Sentry.Samples.OpenTelemetry.Console/Program.cs
@@ -6,25 +6,47 @@
  */
 
 using OpenTelemetry;
-using OpenTelemetry.Resources;
 using OpenTelemetry.Trace;
 using Sentry.OpenTelemetry;
 
-var serviceName = "Sentry.Samples.OpenTelemetry.Console";
-var serviceVersion = "1.0.0";
+var activitySource = Sentry.OpenTelemetry.TracerProviderBuilderExtensions.DefaultActivitySource;
 
 SentrySdk.Init(options =>
 {
     // options.Dsn = "... Your DSN ...";
+    options.Dsn = "https://eb18e953812b41c3aeb042e666fd3b5c@o447951.ingest.sentry.io/5428537";
     options.TracesSampleRate = 1.0;
     options.UseOpenTelemetry(); // <-- Configure Sentry to use OpenTelemetry trace information
 });
 
-using var tracerProvider = Sdk.CreateTracerProviderBuilder()
-    .AddSource(serviceName)
-    .ConfigureResource(resource =>
-        resource.AddService(
-            serviceName: serviceName,
-            serviceVersion: serviceVersion))
-    .AddSentry() // <-- Configure OpenTelemetry to send traces to Sentry
-    .Build();
+// using var tracerProvider = Sdk.CreateTracerProviderBuilder()
+//     .AddSentry() // <-- Configure OpenTelemetry to send traces to Sentry
+//     .Build();
+
+Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");
+Question();
+Console.WriteLine("Goodbye cruel world...");
+
+void Question()
+{
+    using var disposable = SentrySdk.PushScope();
+    SentrySdk.ConfigureScope(scope =>
+    {
+        scope.AddBreadcrumb("Asking the question...");
+        scope.SetTag("Question", "Meaning of life");
+        using var task = activitySource.StartActivity("Question");
+        Thread.Sleep(100); // simulate some work
+        Answer();
+    });
+}
+
+void Answer()
+{
+    SentrySdk.ConfigureScope(scope =>
+    {
+        scope.AddBreadcrumb("Giving the answer...");
+        scope.SetTag("Answer", "42");
+        using var task = activitySource.StartActivity("Answer");
+        Thread.Sleep(100); // simulate some work
+    });
+}
diff --git a/src/Sentry.OpenTelemetry/InternalTracerProvider.cs b/src/Sentry.OpenTelemetry/InternalTracerProvider.cs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f94fd88422
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Sentry.OpenTelemetry/InternalTracerProvider.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+using OpenTelemetry;
+using OpenTelemetry.Trace;
+using Sentry.Extensibility;
+
+namespace Sentry.OpenTelemetry;
+
+internal static class InternalTracerProvider
+{
+    internal static IHub? FallbackHub;
+    private static TracerProvider? FallbackTracerProvider;
+    private static bool WasInitializedExternally;
+
+    internal static bool InitializedExternally
+    {
+        get => WasInitializedExternally;
+        set
+        {
+            if (value)
+            {
+                ClearProvider();
+            }
+
+            WasInitializedExternally = value;
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static void InitializeFallbackTracerProvider(this SentryOptions options)
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            ClearProvider();
+            // This is a dummy/naive example. It works for something like a Console app. Wiring up an ASP.NET Core app
+            // should be done using the OpenTelemetryBuilder extensions... If we knew OpenTelemetry was being used as
+            // the trace implementation, we could do something like this in the SentryOptions class, rather than in an
+            // extension method, and override it in SentryAspNetCoreOptions etc. to be platform specific.
+            options.PostInitCallbacks.Add(hub =>
+            {
+                FallbackHub = hub;
+                FallbackTracerProvider = Sdk.CreateTracerProviderBuilder()
+                    .AddSentryInternal(true) // <-- Configure OpenTelemetry to send traces to Sentry
+                    .Build();
+            });
+        }
+        catch (InternalTracerProviderException)
+        {
+            options.LogDebug("OpenTelemetry has been initialized externally: skipping auto-initialization");
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static void CancelInitialization()
+    {
+        throw new InternalTracerProviderException();
+    }
+
+    public static void ClearProvider()
+    {
+        FallbackHub = null;
+        FallbackTracerProvider?.Dispose();
+        FallbackTracerProvider = null;
+    }
+
+    internal class InternalTracerProviderException : Exception
+    {
+        public InternalTracerProviderException(string message) : base(message)
+        {
+        }
+
+        public InternalTracerProviderException() : base()
+        {
+        }
+
+        public InternalTracerProviderException(string? message, Exception? innerException) : base(message, innerException)
+        {
+        }
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/Sentry.OpenTelemetry/SentryOptionsExtensions.cs b/src/Sentry.OpenTelemetry/SentryOptionsExtensions.cs
index 2035787a19..3614c7726f 100644
--- a/src/Sentry.OpenTelemetry/SentryOptionsExtensions.cs
+++ b/src/Sentry.OpenTelemetry/SentryOptionsExtensions.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
+using OpenTelemetry;
 using OpenTelemetry.Context.Propagation;
 using OpenTelemetry.Trace;
+using Sentry.Extensibility;
 
 namespace Sentry.OpenTelemetry;
 
@@ -53,5 +55,6 @@ public static void UseOpenTelemetry(this SentryOptions options)
         options.AddTransactionProcessor(
             new OpenTelemetryTransactionProcessor()
             );
+        options.InitializeFallbackTracerProvider();
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/Sentry.OpenTelemetry/TracerProviderBuilderExtensions.cs b/src/Sentry.OpenTelemetry/TracerProviderBuilderExtensions.cs
index 96472eda98..5135cf398c 100644
--- a/src/Sentry.OpenTelemetry/TracerProviderBuilderExtensions.cs
+++ b/src/Sentry.OpenTelemetry/TracerProviderBuilderExtensions.cs
@@ -11,6 +11,11 @@ namespace Sentry.OpenTelemetry;
 /// </summary>
 public static class TracerProviderBuilderExtensions
 {
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The default <see cref="ActivitySource"/> for spans created by Sentry's instrumentation
+    /// </summary>
+    public static readonly ActivitySource DefaultActivitySource = new("Sentry");
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Ensures OpenTelemetry trace information is sent to Sentry.
     /// </summary>
@@ -29,6 +34,22 @@ public static class TracerProviderBuilderExtensions
     /// <returns>The supplied <see cref="TracerProviderBuilder"/> for chaining.</returns>
     public static TracerProviderBuilder AddSentry(this TracerProviderBuilder tracerProviderBuilder, TextMapPropagator? defaultTextMapPropagator = null)
     {
+        return tracerProviderBuilder.AddSentryInternal(false, defaultTextMapPropagator);
+    }
+
+    internal static TracerProviderBuilder AddSentryInternal(this TracerProviderBuilder tracerProviderBuilder, bool autoInitialized = false, TextMapPropagator? defaultTextMapPropagator = null)
+    {
+        // Don't automatically initialize if the user has already initialized
+        if (autoInitialized && InternalTracerProvider.InitializedExternally)
+        {
+            InternalTracerProvider.CancelInitialization();
+        }
+        if (!autoInitialized)
+        {
+            InternalTracerProvider.InitializedExternally = true;
+        }
+        tracerProviderBuilder.AddSource(DefaultActivitySource.Name);
+
         defaultTextMapPropagator ??= new SentryPropagator();
         Sdk.SetDefaultTextMapPropagator(defaultTextMapPropagator);
         return tracerProviderBuilder.AddProcessor(ImplementationFactory);
@@ -45,7 +66,7 @@ internal static BaseProcessor<Activity> ImplementationFactory(IServiceProvider s
             enrichers.Add(new AspNetCoreEnricher(userFactory));
         }
 
-        var hub = services.GetService<IHub>() ?? SentrySdk.CurrentHub;
+        var hub = services.GetService<IHub>() ?? InternalTracerProvider.FallbackHub ?? SentrySdk.CurrentHub;
         if (hub.IsEnabled)
         {
             return new SentrySpanProcessor(hub, enrichers);