Best Travel Credit Cards for September 2025

With the right credit card, it is possible to travel for nearly free. That includes booking flights to Europe, Asia, Africa and just about anywhere else for less than a Venti four-pump mocha frappuccino. You can stay at luxury resorts without paying a penny for the room (though you’ll still have expenses such as food and transportation).

Here’s a quick look at the best travel credit cards — along with some common-sense guidance on how to choose the best one for your travel style.

Detailed Overview: Best Travel Credit Cards

How Travel Rewards Cards Work

Travel credit cards are designed to reduce the hassle and expense of your trip. They can also do a lot to enhance your travel experience. Travel cards can give you luxury perks that you wouldn’t otherwise pay for. Some examples are airport lounge access or an expedited airport security experience.

Travel credit cards also reward you for spending on travel-related purchases. They do this by:

• Giving select travel expenses as bonuses, like airfare, hotel stays and car rentals
• Automatically covering you with built-in travel insurance

Travel rewards cards also typically waive foreign transaction fees, so they’re great to take overseas.

Pros and Cons of Travel Credit Cards

Pros

Travel credit cards usually come with benefits like:

• Helpful discounts
• Free memberships
• Waived ancillary travel fees

They’re also legendary for their intro bonuses. These bonuses can be worth literally thousands of dollars in travel. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a cash back credit card welcome bonus that can match (or even come near) the immense value of travel credit cards.

Cons

With little exception, travel credit cards are subject to higher fees than, say, cash back credit cards. The best travel cards incur annual fees — often between $95 and $695 — and their purchase APR can be through the roof (though you’ll only be charged interest if you carry a balance month-to-month).

Additionally, some may find it difficult to maximize the rewards earned from travel credit cards. The value of airline miles and hotel points depends on the specific travel you book with them.

Types of Travel Cards

In general, there are four types of travel credit cards. Each is designed for different types of travelers. However, you may find that holding multiple types of travel cards helps you to save the most money:

• Airline credit cards. Airlines team up with banks to issue co-branded credit cards. These cards earn airline miles and typically offer airline-related perks like free checked bags, priority boarding and more.
• Hotel credit cards. Similar to airline credit cards, hotels and banks collaborate to offer co-branded hotel credit cards with uniquely useful hotel features. They earn hotel points and often confer elite status and annual free night rewards.
• Transferable rewards credit cards. These cards earn bank-issue points and miles that can be converted into select airline miles and hotel points. You can also redeem them at a flat rate through a bank’s online travel portal.
• Fixed value rewards credit cards. Some credit cards are advertised as travel credit cards when they’re little more than cash back credit cards. The bank-issued rewards don’t transfer to travel partners and they can be redeemed for a fixed value toward travel purchases. The upside is that the redemption process is extremely straightforward.

When it comes to earning travel rewards, your best bet is to collect transferable points. They’re the only rewards currency that covers all the bases; you can use them for cheap flights, cheap hotel stays, even cash back.

How to Choose a Travel Rewards Credit Card

There are a daunting number of travel credit cards on the market. You can quickly sift through

the best options by asking yourself the following questions.

What Are Your Travel Habits?

How would you describe your travel style? Are you a jet setter or a road tripper? Do you like flying in fancy lie-flat seats and staying in five-star hotels? Do you prefer backpacking in hostels off the beaten path?

Answering questions like these can help you to decide which type of rewards to collect. For example, you likely won’t make great use of a card’s airport lounge membership if you rarely fly. And you won’t maximize a hotel’s annual free night reward if you routinely book your stays with Airbnb.

Which Travel Brands Do You Use the Most?

If you find yourself checking into a United flight or a Marriott hotel regularly, that’s a good clue that you’ll likely save money by opening a co-branded credit card. Some cards offer Wi-Fi credits and discounts on inflight food and beverages; some grant hotel elite status that can earn you free breakfast and upgraded rooms.

Where Do You Want to Travel?

Not all travel rewards are equally handy for every traveler. An airline may not serve your home airport. A hotel chain may not exist in your destination city. For example:

• If you want to travel to Europe, you won’t want to open a Southwest credit card. Southwest only flies around North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Earning American Airlines or Air Canada Aeroplan points would be better.
• If you regularly visit family for the holidays in small-town America, you may not want to collect Hyatt points — as Hyatt properties are mostly found in big cities, popular destinations or along the highway. Earning Wyndham points or Choice points would be better.

You should choose the travel rewards credit card that saves you the most money after subtracting the annual fee.

Is an Annual Fee Worth it for a Travel Card?

The question as to whether a credit card’s annual fee is worth paying is highly subjective. However, you should be able to quickly determine if a travel credit card is a good fit for your lifestyle by answering one question: Will you save more each year than you’re spending in fees?

If the answer is yes, the card is a no-brainer.

There’s just one important thing to keep in mind: Value and savings aren’t synonymous. A card may deliver hundreds of dollars in yearly value beyond its annual fee. But if it’s not saving you money you would have otherwise spent, the card may not be a good option for your situation. You shouldn’t have to alter your travel and spending habits just to achieve enough value from a card to justify its annual fee.

Benefits to Look For in a Travel Card

The quality of a card’s travel benefits tends to be proportional to its annual fee. If you’re willing to shell out more in membership costs, you’ll get wildly better perks. Here are some benefits to look for in a travel card:

• Travel-related statement credits. Depending on the card, you’ll be reimbursed for purchases related to airline incidentals (baggage fees, seat assignments, pet fees etc.), seat upgrades, hotel stays, rideshare expenses and more.
• Airport lounge access. Considered to be the crown jewel of many travel credit cards, you’ll receive entry to fancy airport lounges which often provide free food and alcohol, comfy seats and fast Wi-Fi. The best travel credit cards offer unlimited access to more than 1,200 lounges worldwide.
• Day-of-travel airline perks. As previously mentioned, annual fee-incurring airline credit cards usually provide the first checked bag free for you and other travelers on your itinerary. They’ll also sometimes give you preferred boarding, inflight discounts and even an annual companion certificate.
• Elite status. Airline, hotel and even rental car elite status is easy to achieve through credit cards. They sometimes provide either automatic elite status or a fast track to elite status through spending.
• Travel insurance. Even if you have yet to need travel insurance, it should be a top priority when looking for the perfect travel credit card. Try to find one that offers primary rental car insurance, trip delay insurance, baggage delay insurance and trip cancellation and interruption. It could save you thousands of dollars during a single disastrous trip.

How a Welcome Bonus Works

The requirements to earn a welcome bonus vary, but they generally all work the same way: They reward you for opening a credit card and completing some sort of activity.

Common welcome bonus structures include:

• Minimum spending requirement. Most commonly, you’ll be required to spend a specific dollar amount within a specific time frame (often a few months) to earn a lump sum of rewards.
• Tiered spending requirement. You may spot a card offering a bonus with more than one spending incentive. You’ll earn a bonus for meeting an accessible spending requirement, and another bonus for meeting a loftier requirement.
• Ongoing spending. Instead of enforcing a minimum spending requirement, some credit cards offer bonus rewards for every dollar you spend during an intro period. The more you spend, the more bonus rewards you’ll earn.
• First purchase. On rare occasion, a credit card will award you a welcome bonus after your first purchase. You may also have to pay the card’s annual fee before you receive the spoils.

While you should try to earn the biggest welcome bonus you can, be sure you can complete whatever activity is required. If you realize you can’t meet a minimum spending requirement, you’re effectively forfeiting what could be hundreds of dollars in free travel.

The information related to the Chase Sapphire Reserve® was collected by CardCritics™ and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this product/card. Product details may vary. Please see issuer website for current information. CardCritics™ does not receive a commission for this product.