Named after Raja Joginder Sen, the hill station is the terminus of the 163-kilometre-long (101 mi) Kangra Valley narrow-gauge railway.

[3] Situated in the central Joginder Nagar Valley, this region is known for paragliding and trekking, mountain biking and camping.

[5][better source needed] Narrow-gauge railway track was laid from Pathankot to Jogindernagar—about 150 kilometres (93 mi)[6]—to carry heavy machinery transported from Britain.

A haulage system was laid from the Shanan Power House site to Barot, where a reservoir was built on the Uhl River.

After tunneling and piping the water several kilometres from the river to Jogindernagar, the 110-MW Shanan Power House was built by a team of engineers headed by Batty.

Despite the Bassi Power House's economy (since it was based on tailwater from the Shanan project), no further development was made until the beginning of the 21st century.

Residents of the Kullu Valley travelled for days to obtain the salt, crossing the high-altitude Bhubhu Pass (since the road network did not yet exist).

These mines were started in May 1963 and closed in January 2011, due to non-forest clearance from the environment and forest ministry and non-deposit of royalty by the company.

Rhododendron (burans, known locally as brah ka fool) and deodar trees are found at high-altitude locations such as Winch Camp, Jhatingri and Phuladhar.

Jogindernagar is in a Zone V (very high earthquake-damage risk) region, and after-effects of the 1905 earthquake are still visible at the nearby Kila Karanpur fort.

The major religion is Hinduism; a small percentage of the population follows Islam, Sikhism, Christianity and Tibetan Buddhism.

The major languages spoken in the region are Hindi and the Western Pahari varieties of Mandyali and the Kangri dialect.

The region lacks any known higher educational engineering and medical institutions leading to the migration of students to larger cities after schooling.