Oberhofen Am Thunersee - Geography

Geography

Oberhofen has an area, as of 2009, of 2.72 square kilometers (1.05 sq mi). Of this area, 0.55 km2 (0.21 sq mi) or 20.2% is used for agricultural purposes, while 1.43 km2 (0.55 sq mi) or 52.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.76 km2 (0.29 sq mi) or 27.9% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.01 km2 (2.5 acres) or 0.4% is either rivers or lakes and 0.02 km2 (4.9 acres) or 0.7% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 18.8% and transportation infrastructure made up 5.1%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 1.1% of the area while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 2.6%. Out of the forested land, 51.1% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 17.3% is pastures, while 2.9% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in rivers and streams.

It is located on the northern shore of Lake Thun (German: Thunersee) about 5 km (3.1 mi) from the city of Thun (which is located where the Aare river leaves the lake). Ecclestically the village has always been a section of the parish of Hilterfingen, the next village north along the lake (The village church of Hilterfingen is actually on ground that is a part of Oberhofen township). The neighboring village to the south-east is Gunten (part of the township of Sigriswil), while up the steep mountain to the north-east is the village of Heiligenschwendi (no road connection, only a footpath).