diff --git a/django/db/utils.py b/django/db/utils.py
index 7ef62ae5a2..5459fc9a33 100644
--- a/django/db/utils.py
+++ b/django/db/utils.py
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ class ConnectionHandler(BaseConnectionHandler):
         where no settings is provided.
         """
         try:
-            conn = self.databases[alias]
+            conn = self.settings[alias]
         except KeyError:
             raise self.exception_class(f"The connection '{alias}' doesn't exist.")
 
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ class ConnectionHandler(BaseConnectionHandler):
         Make sure the test settings are available in the 'TEST' sub-dictionary.
         """
         try:
-            conn = self.databases[alias]
+            conn = self.settings[alias]
         except KeyError:
             raise self.exception_class(f"The connection '{alias}' doesn't exist.")
 
@@ -205,7 +205,7 @@ class ConnectionHandler(BaseConnectionHandler):
     def create_connection(self, alias):
         self.ensure_defaults(alias)
         self.prepare_test_settings(alias)
-        db = self.databases[alias]
+        db = self.settings[alias]
         backend = load_backend(db["ENGINE"])
         return backend.DatabaseWrapper(db, alias)
 
diff --git a/tests/gis_tests/inspectapp/tests.py b/tests/gis_tests/inspectapp/tests.py
index 6ff3a33fc4..0145483f6b 100644
--- a/tests/gis_tests/inspectapp/tests.py
+++ b/tests/gis_tests/inspectapp/tests.py
@@ -204,7 +204,7 @@ def get_ogr_db_string():
     GDAL will create its own connection to the database, so we re-use the
     connection settings from the Django test.
     """
-    db = connections.databases["default"]
+    db = connections.settings["default"]
 
     # Map from the django backend into the OGR driver name and database identifier
     # https://gdal.org/drivers/vector/