Bönigen is a village and municipality in the Interlaken-Oberhasli administrative district in the Swiss canton of Bern.

It lies on the shore of Lake Brienz, near to the mouth of the river Lütschine, and adjacent to the resort town of Interlaken.

[3] Bönigen belongs to the church parish of Gsteig bei Interlaken, which includes eight other nearby municipalities.

About two decades later, in 1349, Bönigen joined an unsuccessful rebellion against the growing power of Interlaken Monastery.

In 1528, Bern adopted the Protestant Reformation and ordered all the surrounding districts to convert to the new faith.

Following the 1798 French invasion, Bönigen became part of the Helvetic Republic Canton of Oberland.

[4] The village was originally perched on a hill above the flood level of the lake and local streams.

In the 19th century, the river course was corrected and flood control measures put in place.

In 1874, Bönigen was reached by the Bödelibahn railway from Därligen, on Lake Thun, via Interlaken.

Until 1893, this line was unconnected to the rest of the Swiss railway system, and served as a link between the steamships on both lakes.

Bönigen remained the eastern terminus of the line, which eventually became part of the Bern–Lötschberg–Simplon railway (BLS), until 1969, when passenger service was cut back to Interlaken Ost station.

The village centre lies in the northwest part of the municipality along the Lütschine and up to the lake.

The village has grown towards the nearby resort town of Interlaken, and the built-up areas are nearly contiguous.

[12] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (2,086 or 95.6%) as their first language, English is the second most common (17 or 0.8%) and Italian is the third (16 or 0.7%).

The historical population is given in the following chart:[4][15] The entire village of Bönigen is designated as part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

The number of jobs in the primary sector was 18, of which 15 were in agriculture and 3 were in forestry or lumber production.

In the tertiary sector; 45 or 19.9% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 4 or 1.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 75 or 33.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 6 or 2.7% were the insurance or financial industry, 13 or 5.8% were technical professionals or scientists, 19 or 8.4% were in education and 26 or 11.5% were in health care.

[12] From the 2000 census[update], 253 or 11.6% were Roman Catholic, while 1,639 or 75.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.

Following the lower Secondary students may attend additional schooling or they may enter an apprenticeship.