Lauenen (French: Lauvine, Romansh: Lavina) is a municipality in the Obersimmental-Saanen administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland.

The oldest trace of a settlement in the area is a single Bronze Age artifact found at Feissenalp.

During much of the Middle Ages, Lauenen was part of the municipality and parish of Saanen.

As tourists flocked to Gstaad, Lauenen became a destination as well and grew wealthy.

Many of the richly decorated houses in the village were built with profits from the tourist industry.

In the 1970s the tourist industry in Lauenen changed as visitors bought vacation chalets and villas.

The mountains in the south of the municipality, for instance Wildhorn (3,243 m (10,640 ft)) form the border with the canton of Valais.

On the following day, 1 January 2010, it joined the newly created Verwaltungskreis Obersimmental-Saanen.

[6] The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a Crane rising Argent beaked and membered Or on a Mount of 3 Coupeaux of the second all dimidiated impaled with Azure a Key Or.

[9] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (742 or 93.5%) as their first language, Albanian is the second most common (23 or 2.9%) and French is the third (13 or 1.6%).

[14] The historical population is given in the following chart:[3][15][16] The former farm house and mill at Dorf 247 is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

In the federal election, a total of 350 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 57.1%.

The number of jobs in the primary sector was 97, of which 91 were in agriculture and 6 were in forestry or lumber production.

In the tertiary sector; 11 or 14.1% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 2 or 2.6% were in the movement and storage of goods, 34 or 43.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 1 was the insurance or financial industry, 2 or 2.6% were technical professionals or scientists, 5 or 6.4% were in education and 11 or 14.1% were in health care.

[24] From the 2000 census[update], 647 or 81.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church, while 47 or 5.9% 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.

[25] During the 2011–12 school year, there were a total of 64 students attending classes in Lauenen.