diff --git a/xugrid/core/dataarray_accessor.py b/xugrid/core/dataarray_accessor.py
index fdeee6b2c..b1ff6d0a6 100644
--- a/xugrid/core/dataarray_accessor.py
+++ b/xugrid/core/dataarray_accessor.py
@@ -422,7 +422,7 @@ def to_geodataframe(
         else:
             ds = self.obj.to_dataset()
 
-        variables = [varname for varname, var in ds.variables.items() if dim in var.dims]
+        variables = [var for var in ds.data_vars if dim in ds[var].dims]
         # TODO deal with time-dependent data, etc.
         # Basically requires checking which variables are static, which aren't.
         # For non-static, requires repeating all geometries.
diff --git a/xugrid/core/dataset_accessor.py b/xugrid/core/dataset_accessor.py
index 0d783c4d1..3a367f5ab 100644
--- a/xugrid/core/dataset_accessor.py
+++ b/xugrid/core/dataset_accessor.py
@@ -546,7 +546,7 @@ def to_geodataframe(self, dim_order=None) -> "geopandas.GeoDataFrame":  # type:
             else:
                 raise ValueError("invalid topology dimension on grid")
 
-            variables = [varname for varname, var in ds.variables.items() if dim in var.dims]
+            variables = [var for var in ds.data_vars if dim in ds[var].dims]
             if variables:
                 data = ds[variables].to_dataframe(dim_order=dim_order)
             else: