diff --git a/julearn/model_selection/_skopt_searcher.py b/julearn/model_selection/_skopt_searcher.py
index e0904b10c..3bd246a3b 100644
--- a/julearn/model_selection/_skopt_searcher.py
+++ b/julearn/model_selection/_skopt_searcher.py
@@ -2,11 +2,14 @@
 
 # Authors: Federico Raimondo <f.raimondo@fz-juelich.de>
 # License: AGPL
+from typing import Any, Dict
 
+from ..utils import logger
 from .available_searchers import _recreate_reset_copy, register_searcher
 
 
 try:
+    import skopt.space as sksp
     from skopt import BayesSearchCV
 except ImportError:
     from sklearn.model_selection._search import BaseSearchCV
@@ -30,3 +33,62 @@ def register_bayes_searcher():
 
     # Update the "reset copy" of available searchers
     _recreate_reset_copy()
+
+
+
+def _prepare_skopt_hyperparameters_distributions(
+    params_to_tune: Dict[str, Any],
+) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+    """Prepare hyperparameters distributions for RandomizedSearchCV.
+
+    This method replaces tuples with distributions for RandomizedSearchCV
+    following the skopt convention. That is, if a parameter is a tuple
+    with 3 elements, the first two elements are the bounds of the
+    distribution and the third element is the type of distribution. In case
+    the last element is "categorical", the parameter is considered
+    categorical and all the previous elements are the choices.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    params_to_tune : dict
+        The parameters to tune.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    dict
+        The modified parameters to tune.
+
+    """
+    out = {}
+    for k, v in params_to_tune.items():
+        if isinstance(v, tuple) and len(v) == 3:
+            prior = v[2]
+            if prior == "categorical":
+                logger.info(f"Hyperparameter {k} is categorical with 2 "
+                            f"options: [{v[0]} and {v[1]}]")
+                out[k] = sksp.Categorical(v[:-1])
+            elif isinstance(v[0], int) and isinstance(v[1], int):
+                logger.info(
+                    f"Hyperparameter {k} is {prior} integer "
+                    f"[{v[0]}, {v[1]}]"
+                )
+                out[k] = sksp.Integer(v[0], v[1], prior=prior)
+            elif isinstance(v[0], float) and isinstance(v[1], float):
+                logger.info(
+                    f"Hyperparameter {k} is {prior} float "
+                    f"[{v[0]}, {v[1]}]"
+                )
+                out[k] = sksp.Real(v[0], v[1], prior=prior)
+            else:
+                logger.info(f"Hyperparameter {k} as is {v}")
+                out[k] = v
+        elif (
+            isinstance(v, tuple)
+            and isinstance(v[-1], str)
+            and v[-1] == "categorical"
+        ):
+            out[k] = sksp.Categorical(v[:-1])
+        else:
+            logger.info(f"Hyperparameter {k} as is {v}")
+            out[k] = v
+    return out
diff --git a/julearn/model_selection/tests/test_skopt_searcher.py b/julearn/model_selection/tests/test_skopt_searcher.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9e8c67fb0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/julearn/model_selection/tests/test_skopt_searcher.py
@@ -0,0 +1,133 @@
+"""Provides tests for the bayes searcher."""
+
+# Authors: Federico Raimondo <f.raimondo@fz-juelich.de>
+# License: AGPL
+from typing import Dict
+
+import pytest
+import skopt.space as sksp
+
+from julearn.model_selection._skopt_searcher import (
+    _prepare_skopt_hyperparameters_distributions,
+)
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "params_to_tune,expected_types, expected_dist",
+    [
+        (
+            {
+                "n_components": (0.2, 0.7, "uniform"),
+                "n_neighbors": (1.0, 10.0, "log-uniform"),
+            },
+            ("float", "float"),
+            ("uniform", "log-uniform"),
+        ),
+        (
+            {
+                "n_components": (1, 20, "uniform"),
+                "n_neighbors": (1, 10, "log-uniform"),
+            },
+            ("int", "int", "int"),
+            ("uniform", "log-uniform"),
+        ),
+        (
+            {
+                "options": (True, False, "categorical"),
+                "more_options": ("a", "b", "c", "d", "categorical"),
+            },
+            (None, None),
+            ("categorical", "categorical"),
+        ),
+        (
+            {
+                "n_components": sksp.Real(0.2, 0.7, prior="uniform"),
+                "n_neighbors": sksp.Real(1.0, 10.0, prior="log-uniform"),
+            },
+            ("float", "float"),
+            ("uniform", "log-uniform"),
+        ),
+        (
+            {
+                "n_components": sksp.Integer(1, 20, prior="uniform"),
+                "n_neighbors": sksp.Integer(1, 10, prior="log-uniform"),
+            },
+            ("int", "int"),
+            ("uniform", "log-uniform"),
+        ),
+        (
+            {
+                "options": sksp.Categorical([True, False]),
+                "more_options": sksp.Categorical(
+                    ("a", "b", "c", "d"),
+                ),
+            },
+            (None, None),
+            ("categorical", "categorical"),
+        ),
+    ],
+)
+def test__prepare_skopt_hyperparameters_distributions(
+    params_to_tune: Dict[str, Dict[str, tuple]],
+    expected_types: tuple,
+    expected_dist: tuple,
+) -> None:
+    """Test the _prepare_skopt_hyperparameters_distributions function.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    params_to_tune : dict
+        The parameters to tune.
+    expected_types : tuple
+        The expected types of each parameter.
+    expected_dist : tuple
+        The expected distributions of each parameter.
+
+    """
+    new_params = _prepare_skopt_hyperparameters_distributions(params_to_tune)
+    for i, (k, v) in enumerate(new_params.items()):
+        if expected_types[i] == "int":
+            assert isinstance(v, sksp.Integer)
+            assert v.prior == expected_dist[i]
+            if isinstance(params_to_tune[k], tuple):
+                assert v.bounds[0] == params_to_tune[k][0]  # type: ignore
+                assert v.bounds[1] == params_to_tune[k][1]  # type: ignore
+            else:
+                assert isinstance(params_to_tune[k], sksp.Integer)
+                assert v.bounds[0] == params_to_tune[k].bounds[0]  # type: ignore
+                assert v.bounds[1] == params_to_tune[k].bounds[1]  # type: ignore
+                assert params_to_tune[k].prior == v.prior  # type: ignore
+        elif expected_types[i] == "float":
+            assert isinstance(v, sksp.Real)
+            assert v.prior == expected_dist[i]
+            if isinstance(params_to_tune[k], tuple):
+                assert v.bounds[0] == params_to_tune[k][0]  # type: ignore
+                assert v.bounds[1] == params_to_tune[k][1]  # type: ignore
+            else:
+                assert isinstance(params_to_tune[k], sksp.Real)
+                assert v.bounds[0] == params_to_tune[k].bounds[0]  # type: ignore
+                assert v.bounds[1] == params_to_tune[k].bounds[1]  # type: ignore
+                assert params_to_tune[k].prior == v.prior  # type: ignore
+        elif expected_dist[i] == "categorical":
+            assert isinstance(v, sksp.Categorical)
+            if isinstance(params_to_tune[k], tuple):
+                assert all(
+                    x in v.categories
+                    for x in params_to_tune[k][:-1]  # type: ignore
+                )
+                assert all(
+                    x in params_to_tune[k][:-1]  # type: ignore
+                    for x in v.categories
+                )
+            else:
+                assert isinstance(params_to_tune[k], sksp.Categorical)
+                assert all(
+                    x in v.categories
+                    for x in params_to_tune[k].categories  # type: ignore
+                )
+                assert all(
+                    x in params_to_tune[k].categories  # type: ignore
+                    for x in v.categories
+                )
+        else:
+            pytest.fail("Invalid distribution type")