Non the the solutions already posted seem to be working for me. 

This is my project directory. 

```
.
|-- auto
|   |-- admin.py
|   |-- apps.py
|   |-- __init__.py
|   |-- migrations
|   |-- models.py
|   |-- views.py
|-- db.sqlite3
|-- manage.py
|-- mysite
|   |-- __init__.py
|   |-- settings.py
|   |-- test.py
|   |-- urls.py
|   |-- wsgi.py
|-- static
|   |-- index.html
`-- templates
    `-- index.html

```

This is my settings.py

```
STATIC_URL = '/static/'

STATICFILES_DIRS = (
   os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), '../static/'),
)

TEMPLATE_DIRS = (
    os.path.join(BASE_DIR, '../templates'),
)

```

I've also tried,

```
TEMPLATE_DIRS = (
    os.path.join(BASE_DIR, 'templates'),
)

```

This is my views.py

```
def render_landing_page(request, template="templates/index.html"):
    return render(request, template, context_instance=RequestContext(request))

```

And this is my urls.py

```
urlpatterns = [
    url(r'^admin/', admin.site.urls),
    url(r'^$', views.render_landing_page),

]

```

At 127.0.0.1:8000/ I get a "TemplateDoesNotExist at /"

```
Request Method: GET
Request URL:    http://127.0.0.1:8000/
Django Version: 1.9.4
Exception Type: TemplateDoesNotExist
Exception Value:    
templates/index.html

```

But, when I go to 127.0.0.1:8000/static/index.html. The page is rendered.