Map - Bönigen

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.

Bönigen belongs to the Small Agglomeration Interlaken with 23,300 inhabitants (2014).

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

Bönigen is first mentioned in 1261 as villa Boningen. The name Bönigen ("of the people of the Bono clan") is composed of the Old High German personal name Bono and the toponymic suffix -ingun.

The village was first mentioned in 1261 then the Freiherr of Eschenbach gave part of the village to Interlaken Abbey. He gave the Abbey additional lands in the village in 1275., the 1261 and 1275 it gave with Iselten and Künzlenalp the Interlaken monastery. Throughout its history, Bönigen was often at the center of unsuccessful conflicts in the Bernese Oberland. In 1330, the Oberhasli valley rebelled against their overlord in what came to be known as the Weissenburger War. The Oberhasli army was destroyed outside Bönigen. About two decades later, in 1349, Bönigen joined an unsuccessful rebellion against the growing power of Interlaken Abbey. In 1528, Bern adopted the Protestant Reformation and ordered all the surrounding districts to convert to the new faith. Bönigen joined the unsuccessful Oberland resistance to this conversion. Once Bern had enforced its will on the Oberland, they secularized Interlaken Abbey and annexed all the Abbey's land. Bönigen became part of the Bernese bailiwick of Interlaken. Following the 1798 French invasion, Bönigen became part of the Helvetic Republic Canton of Oberland. The new Canton only lasted a few years and was reintegrated into the Canton of Bern with the Act of Mediation in 1803. In 1814 and again in 1836, Bönigen led attempts to recreate the Canton of Oberland.

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. Around 1860, these projects stabilized the lake shore and lowered the water level. These improvements allowed the village to spread down toward the streams and the lake.

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. However the BLS had built its main workshops alongside the line at Bönigen's western edge, and these remain open, along with the track between Interlaken and the workshops. The rest of line was removed, although the site of the lakeside terminus can still be identified.