Oberhofen am Thunersee is first mentioned in 1133 as Obrenhoven.The oldest trace of a settlement in the area are scattered Bronze Age artifacts which were discovered in the Längenschachen area. The area remained inhabited through the Early Middle Ages and into High Middle Ages, when the Freiherr von Oberhofen built a castle on a hill above the village. About 1130 the Freiherr founded Interlaken Abbey and donated part of his lands to the Abbey. A few years later he donated another part of the village to the college of canons of Amsoldingen. In 1200, a daughter of the family, Ita, married into the von Eschenbach family and gave this family the castle and village. In the 13th century they began a new, moated castle on the shores of Lake Thun. In 1306 the von Eschenbach family was forced to sell Oberhofen and the castle to the Habsburgs.