diff --git a/R/process_meta.R b/R/process_meta.R
index 7057b556..016332ca 100644
--- a/R/process_meta.R
+++ b/R/process_meta.R
@@ -40,8 +40,24 @@ preprocess_meta = function(o, cdt) {
 		isdef = !sapply(fl, is.null)
 		n = prod(nby)
 
-		if (is.na(panel.type)) panel.type = ifelse(((type == "page" || n == 1) && is.na(panel.labels[[1]]) && !identical(panel.show, TRUE)) || ((type %in% c("wrap", "stack")) && !isdef[1]) || (!(type %in% c("wrap", "stack")) && !isdef[1] && !isdef[2]) || !o$panel.show, "none",
-										    ifelse((type %in% c("wrap", "stack")) || (n == 1) || (type == "page" && identical(panel.show, TRUE)), "wrap", "xtab"))
+		if (is.na(panel.type)) panel.type = if (identical(panel.show, FALSE)) {
+			"none"
+		} else if (identical(panel.show, TRUE)) {
+			# force panel labels
+			if (type %in% c("wrap", "stack", "page") || (n == 1)) {
+				"wrap"
+			} else {
+				"xtab"
+			}
+		} else if ((type == "page" || n == 1) && is.na(panel.labels[[1]])) {
+			"none"
+		} else if (!(type %in% c("wrap", "stack")) && !isdef[1] && !isdef[2]) {
+			"none"
+		} else if ((type %in% c("wrap", "stack")) || (n == 1)) {
+			"wrap"
+		} else {
+			"xtab"
+		}
 
 		inner.margins = get_option_class(inner.margins, class = main_class)
 
diff --git a/R/tmap_options.R b/R/tmap_options.R
index cc9322ec..52a26c71 100644
--- a/R/tmap_options.R
+++ b/R/tmap_options.R
@@ -577,7 +577,7 @@ tmapMode = function(id, name, ...) {
 		minimap.position = tm_pos_in(pos.h = "right", pos.v = "bottom", align.h = "right", align.v = "top", just.h = "left", just.v = "bottom"),
 		minimap.show = FALSE,
 
-		panel.show = TRUE,
+		panel.show = NA, # depends on type: TRUE for facets
 		panel.labels = NA,
 		panel.label.size = 1,
 		panel.label.color = "black",
diff --git a/tests/testing_panels.Rmd b/tests/testing_panels.Rmd
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..11c58667
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testing_panels.Rmd
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+---
+title: "Testing - Panel labels"
+author: "Martijn Tennekes"
+date: "`r Sys.Date()`"
+output: html_document
+editor_options:
+  chunk_output_type: console
+---
+
+```{r setup, include=FALSE}
+knitr::opts_chunk$set(echo = TRUE, fig.width = 9)
+library(tmap)
+```
+
+
+
+### Single map
+
+```{r}
+# default: no panels
+tm_shape(World) +
+	tm_polygons("HPI")
+```
+
+```{r}
+# with
+tm_shape(World) +
+	tm_polygons("HPI") +
+	tm_layout(panel.show = TRUE)
+```
+
+### Facets defined with multiple variables
+
+```{r}
+# default: with panels
+tm_shape(World) +
+	tm_polygons(c("HPI", "footprint"))
+```
+
+```{r}
+# without
+tm_shape(World) +
+	tm_polygons(c("HPI", "footprint")) +
+	tm_layout(panel.show = FALSE)
+```
+
+
+```{r}
+# default: with panels
+tm_shape(World) +
+	tm_polygons("HPI") +
+	tm_facets("continent")
+
+
+### Facets defined with multiple variables, single pages
+
+
+```{r}
+# default: without
+tm_shape(World) +
+	tm_polygons(c("HPI", "footprint")) +
+	tm_facets_pagewise()
+
+```{r}
+# with
+tm_shape(World) +
+	tm_polygons(c("HPI", "footprint")) +
+	tm_facets_pagewise() +
+	tm_layout(panel.show = TRUE)
+```
+
+### Facets defined with 'by' variable
+
+```{r}
+# default: with
+tm_shape(World) +
+	tm_polygons("HPI") +
+	tm_facets("continent")
+```
+
+```{r}
+# without
+tm_shape(World) +
+	tm_polygons("HPI") +
+	tm_facets("continent") +
+	tm_layout(panel.show = FALSE)
+```
+
+### Facet grid
+
+```{r}
+# default: with panels
+tm_shape(World) +
+	tm_polygons("HPI") +
+	tm_facets_grid("continent", "economy")
+```
+
+```{r}
+# without
+tm_shape(World) +
+	tm_polygons("HPI") +
+	tm_facets_grid("continent", "economy") +
+	tm_layout(panel.show = FALSE)
+```
+