diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 78296ee7d1fb961f5f06da93aa33969756cf9e80..f08fa4cc9cb9d596407cb56f0e876f62a35957e6 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ option(INSTALL_WITH_RPATH "RPATH the build dependencies for e.g dlb into the sha
 
 # Other options
 option(WITH_MPI "Compile with MPI" OFF)
+option(WITH_MPI_TESTS "Add MPI Tests. Requires mpirun to be working" ON)
 
 
 if(BUILD_C_FORTRAN)
diff --git a/tests/CMakeLists.txt b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
index d99da70a6b481cd07bf65e08e42b0e166d155464..384053429942e9a7ca5d6aae9b6b43be418d5862 100644
--- a/tests/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/tests/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ add_test(NAME TestCppTalpTree
          COMMAND TestCppTalpTree)
 
 
-      if(WITH_MPI)
+      if(WITH_MPI AND WITH_MPI_TESTS)
 
             add_executable(TestCppTalpTreeMPI cpp/TestCppTalpTreeMPI.cpp)
             target_link_libraries(TestCppTalpTreeMPI nesmik::nesmik MPI::MPI_CXX)