diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index b07b206..b0918d2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [1.18.2] - 2026-04-21
+- Add colorbar for cell regions in 2D `gridplot!` with `Py[thon]Plot`
+
 ## [1.18.0] - 2026-04-15
 - new UnicodePlots.jl extension that at the moment supports gridplot and scalarplot in 1D and 2D
 
diff --git a/Project.toml b/Project.toml
index 62902a9..298e773 100644
--- a/Project.toml
+++ b/Project.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 name = "GridVisualize"
 uuid = "5eed8a63-0fb0-45eb-886d-8d5a387d12b8"
 authors = ["Juergen Fuhrmann <juergen.fuhrmann@wias-berlin.de>", "Patrick Jaap <patrick.jaap@wias-berlin.de>"]
-version = "1.18.1"
+version = "1.18.2"
 
 [deps]
 ColorSchemes = "35d6a980-a343-548e-a6ea-1d62b119f2f4"
diff --git a/src/pycommon.jl b/src/pycommon.jl
index 875b7d0..a72cf02 100644
--- a/src/pycommon.jl
+++ b/src/pycommon.jl
@@ -258,6 +258,15 @@ function gridplot!(ctx, TP::Type{T}, ::Type{Val{2}}, grid) where {T <: AbstractP
         vmax = length(bcmap) + 0.5,
     )
 
+    # dummy plot to get a correct color bar for the cell data
+    cdata = ax.tripcolor(
+        dummy_coords_x, dummy_coords_y, dummy_triangle; # use the dummy triangle
+        facecolors = cell_colors[1:1],                  # only one triangle!
+        cmap = PyPlotter.ColorMap(cmap, length(cmap)),
+        vmin = 0.5,
+        vmax = length(cmap) + 0.5,
+    )
+
     ax.tripcolor(
         tridat...;
         facecolors = cell_colors,
@@ -265,23 +274,20 @@ function gridplot!(ctx, TP::Type{T}, ::Type{Val{2}}, grid) where {T <: AbstractP
     )
 
     if ctx[:show_colorbar]
-        if ctx[:colorbar] == :horizontal
-            cbar = fig.colorbar(
+        if ctx[:colorbar] in (:horizontal, :vertical)
+            fig.colorbar(
                 bcdata;
                 ax = ax,
-                ticks = collect(1:length(bcmap)),
-                orientation = "horizontal",
-                label = "boundary regions",
+                ticks = 1:length(bcmap),
+                orientation = "$(ctx[:colorbar])",
+                label = "boundary regions"
             )
-        end
-
-        if ctx[:colorbar] == :vertical
-            cbar = fig.colorbar(
-                bcdata;
+            fig.colorbar(
+                cdata;
                 ax = ax,
-                ticks = collect(1:length(bcmap)),
-                orientation = "vertical",
-                label = "boundary regions",
+                ticks = 1:length(cmap),
+                orientation = "$(ctx[:colorbar])",
+                label = "cell regions"
             )
         end
     end