Heiligenschwendi is a municipality in the administrative district of Thun in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

After a failed raid on Solothurn on 11 November 1382 and the resulting Burgdorferkrieg, the Kyburgs lost most of their lands to Bern in 1384.

Under Bernese rule it became part of the court of Steffisburg in the Thun District.

Heiligenschwendi and Schwendihaus shared a school house between the two communities and gradually drew closer together.

When the political municipality of Heiligenschwendi was formed it included all three communities but separate Burgergemeinden.

In 1884 the Seestrasse (Lake road) opened, connecting Hünibach and the rest of Heiligenschwendi with Thun.

When a station on the Steffisburg-Interlaken tram opened in Hünibach in 1913, the community became increasingly attractive to commuters.

It held services for both the Swiss Reformed Church and the local Methodist congregation.

Beginning in 1902 the first of several hotels, restaurants and rental homes opened for visitors to the clinic or nearby Lake Thun and mountains.

Beginning in the 1920s and into the 1930s better sanitation and public education led to declining tuberculosis rates, which damaged the local economy.

A treatment center for young drug addicts opened in 1981 in the Sonnegg area of the municipality.

[5] The municipality is located on a terrace, about 900–1,125 meters (2,953–3,691 ft) above the right shore of Lake Thun.

[6] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure a Sun in splendour Or on a Mount of 3 Couepaux of the same.

[9] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (640 or 90.5%) as their first language, Serbo-Croatian is the second most common (15 or 2.1%) and Italian is the third (10 or 1.4%).

In the tertiary sector; 4 or 1.2% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 6 or 1.8% were in the movement and storage of goods, 10 or 3.1% were in a hotel or restaurant, 4 or 1.2% were technical professionals or scientists, and 297 or 91.4% were in health care.

[23] From the 2000 census[update], 426 or 60.3% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 66 or 9.3% were Roman Catholic.

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.

[24] During the 2012-13 school year, there were a total of 56 students attending classes in Heiligenschwendi.

The municipality's primary school had 32 students in German language classes.

During the same year, the lower secondary schools in neighboring municipalities had a total of 12 students from Heiligenschwendi.