diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 80f47e1f..cc6d4f9c 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ if (USE_MPI)
     target_compile_definitions(netgen_metis INTERFACE METIS )
 
     if(USE_MPI4PY AND USE_PYTHON)
-      execute_process(COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -c "import mpi4py;print(mpi4py.get_include())" OUTPUT_VARIABLE mpi4py_path OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+      execute_process(COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} -c "import mpi4py;print(mpi4py.get_include())" OUTPUT_VARIABLE mpi4py_path OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
       find_path(MPI4PY_INCLUDE_DIR mpi4py.h HINTS ${mpi4py_path}/mpi4py NO_DEFAULT_PATH REQUIRED)
       target_include_directories(netgen_metis INTERFACE ${MPI4PY_INCLUDE_DIR})
       target_compile_definitions(netgen_metis INTERFACE NG_MPI4PY )
diff --git a/cmake/NetgenConfig.cmake.in b/cmake/NetgenConfig.cmake.in
index f58d8778..477ed214 100644
--- a/cmake/NetgenConfig.cmake.in
+++ b/cmake/NetgenConfig.cmake.in
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ set(NETGEN_OCC_LIBRARIES_BIN "@OpenCASCADE_BINARY_DIR@")
 set(NETGEN_OCC_LIBRARIES "@OCC_LIBRARIES@")
 set(NETGEN_OCC_LIBRARY_DIR "@OpenCASCADE_LIBRARY_DIR@")
 set(NETGEN_OPENGL_LIBRARIES "@OPENGL_LIBRARIES@")
-set(NETGEN_PYTHON_EXECUTABLE "@PYTHON_EXECUTABLE@")
+set(NETGEN_PYTHON_EXECUTABLE "@Python3_EXECUTABLE@")
 set(NETGEN_PYTHON_INCLUDE_DIRS "@Python3_INCLUDE_DIRS@")
 set(NETGEN_PYTHON_LIBRARIES "@Python3_LIBRARIES@")
 set(NETGEN_TCL_INCLUDE_PATH "@TCL_INCLUDE_PATH@")
diff --git a/cmake/external_projects/tcltk.cmake b/cmake/external_projects/tcltk.cmake
index 8d1e1247..9542f3c0 100644
--- a/cmake/external_projects/tcltk.cmake
+++ b/cmake/external_projects/tcltk.cmake
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ else(LINUX)
 if(SKBUILD)
 # we are building a pip package - download the tcl/tk sources matching the tkinter version (for private headers not shipped with python)
 
-execute_process(COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -c 
+execute_process(COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} -c
 "import tkinter;print(tkinter.Tcl().eval('info patchlevel').replace('.','-'))"
 OUTPUT_VARIABLE PYTHON_TCL_VERSION OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
 
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ set(TK_INCLUDE_PATH ${TK_DIR}/generic)
 list(APPEND NETGEN_DEPENDENCIES project_tcl project_tk)
 
 if(APPLE OR WIN32)
-    execute_process(COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -c "import sys; print(sys.prefix)" OUTPUT_VARIABLE PYTHON_PREFIX OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
+    execute_process(COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} -c "import sys; print(sys.prefix)" OUTPUT_VARIABLE PYTHON_PREFIX OUTPUT_STRIP_TRAILING_WHITESPACE)
     file(TO_CMAKE_PATH ${PYTHON_PREFIX} PYTHON_PREFIX)
 
     set(tcl_find_args
diff --git a/python/CMakeLists.txt b/python/CMakeLists.txt
index ccab5494..792b337c 100644
--- a/python/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/python/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -26,13 +26,13 @@ install(FILES
 
 # build stub files for pybind11 packages
 if(BUILD_STUB_FILES)
-execute_process(COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -c "import pybind11_stubgen; print(pybind11_stubgen.__file__)" OUTPUT_VARIABLE stubgen_path RESULT_VARIABLE pybind11_stubgen)
+execute_process(COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} -c "import pybind11_stubgen; print(pybind11_stubgen.__file__)" OUTPUT_VARIABLE stubgen_path RESULT_VARIABLE pybind11_stubgen)
 if(pybind11_stubgen AND NOT ${pybind11_stubgen} EQUAL 0)
   message(WARNING "pybind11-stubgen not found, if you want to create stub files
 for better autocompletion support install it with pip.")
 else()
   message("-- Found pybind11-stubgen: ${stubgen_path}")
-  install(CODE "execute_process(COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -m pybind11_stubgen --no-setup-py --ignore-invalid=all netgen)")
+  install(CODE "execute_process(COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} -m pybind11_stubgen --no-setup-py --ignore-invalid=all netgen)")
   install(DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/../stubs/netgen-stubs/ DESTINATION ${NG_INSTALL_DIR_PYTHON}/netgen/ COMPONENT netgen)
 endif()
 endif(BUILD_STUB_FILES)
diff --git a/python/config_template.py b/python/config_template.py
index 38991567..c4232dff 100644
--- a/python/config_template.py
+++ b/python/config_template.py
@@ -52,8 +52,8 @@ NETGEN_VERSION_TWEAK = "@NETGEN_VERSION_TWEAK@"
 NETGEN_VERSION_PATCH = "@NETGEN_VERSION_PATCH@"
 NETGEN_VERSION_HASH = "@NETGEN_VERSION_HASH@"
 
-PYTHON_VERSION       = "@PYTHON_VERSION@"
-PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR = "@PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR@"
-PYTHON_VERSION_MINOR = "@PYTHON_VERSION_MINOR@"
+PYTHON_VERSION       = "@Python3_VERSION@"
+PYTHON_VERSION_MAJOR = "@Python3_VERSION_MAJOR@"
+PYTHON_VERSION_MINOR = "@Python3_VERSION_MINOR@"
 
 version = NETGEN_VERSION_GIT
diff --git a/tests/pytest/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/pytest/CMakeLists.txt
index 26c7d22f..375bd420 100644
--- a/tests/pytest/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/pytest/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 if(USE_PYTHON)
-    add_test(NAME pytest COMMAND ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -m pytest WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
-    add_custom_target(pytest ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -m pytest WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
+    add_test(NAME pytest COMMAND ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} -m pytest WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
+    add_custom_target(pytest ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} -m pytest WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
     set_tests_properties ( pytest PROPERTIES TIMEOUT 1800 )
     if(USE_MPI AND USE_MPI4PY)
-      add_test(NAME pytest-mpi COMMAND ${MPIEXEC_EXECUTABLE} --allow-run-as-root -np 4 ${PYTHON_EXECUTABLE} -m pytest --with-mpi test_mpi4py.py WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
+      add_test(NAME pytest-mpi COMMAND ${MPIEXEC_EXECUTABLE} --allow-run-as-root -np 4 ${Python3_EXECUTABLE} -m pytest --with-mpi test_mpi4py.py WORKING_DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR})
     endif(USE_MPI AND USE_MPI4PY)
 endif(USE_PYTHON)