Bodegraven (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈboːdəˌɣraːvə(n)] ⓘ) is a town and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland.

Bodegraven is centrally located in the Green Heart of the Randstad, roughly equally distant (about 30 km) from Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Utrecht.

There is certainty however that circa 1050 a small settlement had formed, probably near the current Dorpskerk (Village Church).

In the late Middle Ages, large tracts of land around Bodegraven were prepared for cultivation by digging division ditches (kavelsloten) perpendicular to the rivers (such as Oude Rijn, Meije, and Oude Bodegrave) between land parcels and then ditches cross-wise some 1,250 meters (4,100 feet) from and parallel to the rivers (achtersloten).

In 1672 when war was declared between the Dutch Republic and England, France, Münster, and Cologne, Bodegraven was just behind the Water Defense Line.

But in that year fire broke out in a bakery which subsequently burnt a large part of the town.

There is a picturesque historic windmill located in the town, which dates from the late seventeenth century and is now known as "De Arkduif" (the 'ark-dove' of the biblical Noah's Ark story).

The A12 Motorway, running next to Bodegraven, connects The Hague via Utrecht and Arnhem to the German border.

A second local bus (Line 722) connects Alphen aan den Rijn and Bodegraven via Zwammerdam.