diff --git a/bindings/python/CMakeLists.txt b/bindings/python/CMakeLists.txt
index 665766a5815245c6d83cae5414adade3e003ccbc..1f06042875f41132e8b8fd7aeea92ba62fb454e2 100644
--- a/bindings/python/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/bindings/python/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ if(NOT BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
   message(ERROR "Python bindings are only supported for shared libraries")
 endif()
 
+set(Python_ADDITIONAL_VERSIONS 3 2.7)
+find_package(PythonInterp REQUIRED)
 find_package(PythonLibsNew REQUIRED)
 
 pybind11_add_module(adios2py MODULE
diff --git a/cmake/DetectOptions.cmake b/cmake/DetectOptions.cmake
index 4ba6e31805350930e344ace20c1e31e22d00a69f..a484a5957f7c862b724cd102639b6339e7460c98 100644
--- a/cmake/DetectOptions.cmake
+++ b/cmake/DetectOptions.cmake
@@ -95,6 +95,8 @@ list(INSERT CMAKE_MODULE_PATH 0
 )
 if(ADIOS2_USE_Python STREQUAL AUTO)
   if(BUILD_SHARED_LIBS)
+    set(Python_ADDITIONAL_VERSIONS 3 2.7)
+    find_package(PythonInterp)
     find_package(PythonLibsNew)
     if(PYTHONLIBS_FOUND)
       if(ADIOS2_HAVE_MPI)