How we know: Sources are listed at the end. Every fee, rate and credit below is quoted from the issuer's own card page or a dated review as of late September 2026. Terms change often; confirm on the issuer's site before applying. Wildly has no affiliate relationship with any issuer and earns nothing if you apply.
A travel credit card earns two things: a sign-up bonus large enough to cover a transatlantic ticket, and ongoing points on spending you would do anyway. The right one depends on how much you spend, where, and whether you will actually use the credits that justify the higher fees. Four cards cover most people.
The four cards at a glance
| Card | Annual fee | Welcome offer (at time of writing) | Headline earning | Key credits and perks | |---|---|---|---|---| | Chase Sapphire Preferred | $95 | 75,000 points after $5,000 in 3 months | 5x Chase Travel, 3x dining, online grocery and streaming, 2x other travel | $100 annual hotel credit via Chase Travel; trip cancellation, primary rental coverage, no foreign transaction fees (Chase) | | Chase Sapphire Reserve | $795 ($195 per authorized user) | 100,000 points after $6,000 in 3 months | 8x Chase Travel, 4x flights and hotels booked direct, 3x dining | Up to $300 annual travel credit; Sapphire Lounges and 1,300+ Priority Pass lounges with two guests; points worth 1 cent each via Chase Travel, more with Points Boost (Chase) | | Amex Gold | $325 | "as high as" 100,000 points after $8,000 in 6 months, varies (TPG review) | 4x restaurants worldwide (to $50,000/yr), 4x US supermarkets (to $25,000/yr), 3x flights | Monthly dining and Uber Cash credits, semi-annual Resy credit, monthly Dunkin' credit (Amex) | | Capital One Venture X | $395 | not stated on the card page at time of writing | 10x hotels and rental cars and 5x flights via Capital One Travel, 2x everything else | Capital One Lounges and 1,300+ Priority Pass lounges (Capital One) |
Which card for which traveller
Most people: Sapphire Preferred. Low fee, strong bonus, 1:1 transfers to ten airlines including United, Aeroplan, Flying Blue, British Airways, Singapore and Virgin Atlantic (TPG, September 2026), and genuine travel protections. If you are choosing one card, choose this.
Frequent flyers who want lounges: Sapphire Reserve or Venture X. Both include Priority Pass plus the issuer's own lounges. The Reserve's fee is much higher but so are its earning rates on direct flight and hotel bookings and its travel credit; the Venture X's simpler 2x-on-everything earning suits people who do not want to think about categories. Do the arithmetic on the credits you will really use.
Big restaurant and grocery spenders: Amex Gold. 4x in both categories is the highest ongoing earning on this list for those purchases, and the monthly credits offset much of the fee if you use them. Pair it with a Sapphire for travel purchases and protections; see our Sapphire Preferred vs Amex Gold comparison.
Fee-averse: a no-annual-fee card. See best no-annual-fee travel cards.
How to turn points into a flight
The bonus on any card in the table is enough for an economy transatlantic or transpacific award in many programmes, or a large chunk of a business-class one. The method: find the cash fare first (the route pages show today's price for JFK to Paris, LAX to Tokyo, Chicago to London or Miami to Madrid), price the award, and use points only where they beat cash comfortably. Our guide to redeeming points for flights walks through it. Cheap cash fares, found with a price alert, are what let you save points for the redemptions where they multiply.
Things that matter more than the headline bonus
- Minimum spend. Do not open a card whose bonus requires spending you would not otherwise do.
- Foreign transaction fees. Chase's Sapphire Preferred page states it charges none; check each issuer's page for the others, because many cards still charge them.
- Application rules. Issuers limit how many cards you can open in a period and how often you can earn a bonus on the same product.
- Credits you will not use. A $300 travel credit you would have spent anyway is worth $300; a dining credit at restaurants you never visit is worth nothing.
- Interest. Any balance carried erases the rewards.
FAQ
What is the best travel credit card for beginners? The Chase Sapphire Preferred: low fee, strong bonus, transferable points and real travel protections.
Is a premium travel card worth the annual fee? Only if you will use the travel credit and lounge access every year; otherwise the Preferred delivers most of the value.
Do these cards charge foreign transaction fees? The Sapphire Preferred does not, per Chase's page; confirm the others on the issuer's site before travelling.