7 Best Travel Rewards Credit Cards

Best Travel Credit Cards Compared

Vacations. Who hates them? No one.

Because you work very hard very hard every day, and at times two or three jobs, I recommend that you take a vacation at least once every year. It’s not wrong to spoil yourself once in a while.

A vacation will help you unwind, reset, and experience the fun of working.

Remember, you don’t need to travel abroad for your vacation. In fact, some of the best memories are made by traveling locally. Finding local gems that you always ignore.

But to travel, you need money. While I recommend you travel with your saved money, at times, you will be required to borrow money. Ideally, you want to borrow money from a credit card company that is flexible, easily accessible, and one that has low-interest rates.

In this article, I review some of the best travel credit cards you can use.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

This card is offered by Chase Bank. The card offers attractive bonus points which you can redeem for really awesome products.

For example, when you spend $4,000 on purchases after opening the account, you will get 50,000 bonus points.

The redemption value of the 50,000 points is either: $625 airfare, $625 hotels, or $500 cash. Yes, by spending $4,000 you can get $500 in cash.

You can learn more about this offer here.

The card gives you more features which include: accepted in more than 43.3 million merchants worldwide, zero liability protection, trip interruption insurance, and 2X points earned on travel and dining in restaurants in the U.S. and abroad.

The card charges you an APR of between 16.99% and 23.99%. Cash advances are charged at 25.99% of the total amount.

You can learn more about the fees and penalties that come with this account here.

You can apply for the card here.

Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card

This card is offered by Bank of America. It offers unlimited 1.5 points for every $1 spent on purchases. Also,it offers 20,000 online bonus points after you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days. These points can be redeemed for a $200 statement credit towards travel expenses.

The card’s other features are: no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees, no expiry of your points, introductory 0% APR for your first 12 billing cycles, a chance to increase your bonus to between 25% to 75% if you are a preferred rewards client, get additional 10% customer points if you are a customer of Bank of America, and flexibility on how you redeem your points.

The card offers zero APR for the first year which rises to between 15.99% and 23.99% in the following years. For cash advances, the card charges APR of between 18.99% and 25.99% based on your creditworthiness.

You can open your account here. Please ensure to read the terms and conditions and the fees and penalties.

Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card

This credit card is offered by Capital One, a leading financial institution in the country. The card features the following. You earn 2X miles per dollar on every purchase with 100 miles equaling $1 in travel rewards.

As a new customer, you earn 50,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 within the first three months. You can redeem these points in hotels and air transport.

The card’s other features are no fees for the first year. This rises to $95 in the following years. A purchase APR of between 13.99% and 23.99% based on your creditworthiness. Also, you can use the card with Apple Pay and also, you can shop with it worldwide with no transaction fees. If your card is lost, you can get an emergency replacement card with no fees. Further, you get 24/7 customer service from a real person.

You can apply for an account here or read more about the fees and penalties here.

The Premier Rewards® from American Express

The card is offered by American Express. Its features are no annual fees for the first year. In the following years, you pay an annual fee $195. Earn 25,000 membership rewards points after making $2,000 in purchases in the first three months. Also, the card does not charge an interest rate because you pay the balance at the end of every month.

Using the card, you earn 3X points for flights booked directly with airlines, 2X at US restaurants, gas stations, and supermarkets, and $100 airline fee credit per year.

The card does not charge foreign transaction fees. Also, it gives you a personalized travel service, global assist hotline, premium roadside assistance, and double membership rewards.

You can apply for this card here. Also read the card’s penalty fees here.

The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card

This card comes from a partnership between American Express and Starwood Preferred Guest. Starwood is present in more than 100 countries. It has more than 1,500 hotels.

The card’s features are No annual fee for the first year which moves to $95 in the following years, earn 25,000 bonus points if you spend $3000 in the first three months. You can redeem your points for free nights at Starwood hotels. You also receive credit for 5 nights, and 2 stays each year toward SPG elite status. Also, it has no foreign transaction fees.

Other benefits are car rental loss and damage insurance, global assist hotline, travel accident insurance, and fraud protection.

You can read more and apply for this card here.

Barclaycard Arrival Plus® World Elite Mastercard®

This card is offered by Barclays bank. Its features are:

First, you get 40,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 in the first 90 days. Second, you earn 2X miles on all purchases, and you get 5X miles back to use towards your next redemption every time you redeem. Third, the card has no foreign transaction fees. Also, the card uses the chip technology that is more secure for purchases.

The card charges annual fees which are waived for the first year. It also has an APR of between 16.99% and 20.99% for purchases and 26.24% for cash advances.

Please read the terms and conditions of the card here or apply for the card here.

Discover it® Miles Travel Credit Card

If you are not into annual fees and tough penalties like me, I highly recommend this card.

The card’s features are unlimited 1.5x miles for every dollar spent on purchases, it matches mile for mile, purchase with the card, and there are no blackout dates. Also, the card gives you a free card if you misplace your card and freezes your account in seconds to prevent new purchases. Also, paying late won’t raise your APR, and there are no over limit, late fees, foreign transaction fees, and pay-by-phone fees.

The card charges no APR for the first year on purchases. This increases to between 11.99% and 23.99% depending on your creditworthiness.

You can learn more about this card here.

My Thoughts

If I was to select the best card, I would probably select the Discover it Travel Card because it does not charge an annual fee. I really hate annual fees.

But, if you travel a lot, you can select one of the cards I described above. The rule is to ensure that you pay the money on time and that you read all the terms and conditions to avoid the penalty fees.