Best Travel Credit Cards For Beginners 2025

My top overall recommendation for travel credit card beginners is the Chase Sapphire Preferred. The annual fee of $95 per year, which is an easier pill to swallow for beginners than some cards, pays for its tenfold if you take advantage of the card benefits. Plus, Chase Ultimate Rewards are extremely valuable, transferring to a wide variety of airline and hotel partners. In fact, Chase Ultimate Rewards are the only points and miles that transfer to Hyatt, and travel hackers like me love Hyatt points redemptions for reasons I explain in this blog post.

On the contrary, if you’re looking for the best of the best travel credit card and have a little extra money to spend on an annual fee up front, the Capital One Venture X is the best premium travel credit card for beginners on the market. The annual fee is $395, which is the lowest annual fee among its premium card peers, and it pays for itself if you take advantage of the card benefits each year. These benefits include airport lounge access, annual travel credits and more. Aside from the benefits, I have been a Capital One cardholder for over a decade, and I believe Capital One has some of the best customer service I have ever been in contact with.

Not too keen on annual fees? I hear you. You may consider opening up the Chase Freedom Flex, a traditionally cash-back card that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards redeemable for travel, which is even more valuable than cash back. The opening bonus is currently $200 cash back if you spend a mere $500 in the first three months, which equates to 20,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Between this easy minimum spend and no annual fee, this card is a no brainer for to earn fast points and miles. In addition, this card offers quarterly spending bonus categories (i.e. gas stations, grocery stores, etc.), 5% back on travel booked the Chase travel portal, 3% back on dining and more.

If you want to live lavishly and experience airports like the rich and famous, a travel credit card that offers airport lounge access may be in tow. Many travel credit cards offer limited lounge access, but The Platinum Card by American Express takes the cake for best lounge access. With The Platinum Card, you get access to the Global Lounge Collection, including coveted Centurion Lounges. Additionally, there is a 80,000 Membership Rewards points bonus after you spend $8000 in the first 6 months, $200 annual hotel credit, $240 digital entertainment credit, monthly Walmart+ credit, $200 airline fee credit, $15 Uber Cash each month, yearly CLEAR Plus credit, $100 annual Saks Fifth Avenue credit and more. The catch? A hefty $695 annual fee.

Airline credit cards makes sense for those of you that are loyal to one particular airline, are looking to gain status with that airline, and/or regularly fly out of a specific airline hub. The honest downside of airline credit cards is that there is extremely limited or no flexibility to transfer your points to other airlines. However, United credit cards seem to have the most generous welcome offers for airline cards, which is why this is my top pick. I opened the United MileagePlus Explorer card this year for its generous 80,000 bonus United miles welcome offer and $0 annual fee for the first year. Plus, you get two United Club one-time passes per year, priority boarding and one free checked bag.

Unlike airline credit cards, hotel credit cards can be an awesome way to make your entire trip free if you combine your redemptions with flights. If you have a specific hotel you’re looking to book, it may be wise to start opening travel credit cards and accruing points with that hotel chain. This is true for all major hotel chains, including Hilton, Marriott and IHG. But, why is Hyatt better? Well, as I said earlier, Chase travel cards can transfer points to Hyatt at a 1:1 ratio, and Hyatt has the lowest points redemption costs compared to other hotels.

Not only will the World Of Hyatt Credit Card earn you a bonus up to 60,000 Hyatt points (enough for a free week at select Hyatt hotels), but you will also get complimentary Hyatt Discoverist status and free nights that can count toward Hyatt Globalist status. Both statuses have amazing perks if your a Hyatt loyalist like many points and miles travelers are.

If you haven’t gotten the hint yet, Chase Ultimate Rewards are extremely valuable. However, Chase has an unwritten rule that you cannot open any Chase credit card if you have opened five cards from any bank in the past 24 months (also know as the Chase 5/24 rule). However, when you combine a personal Chase Sapphire card with the Chase Ink Business cards, you can bypass the rule because the rule only consists of personal cards, not business cards. Thus, the Chase Ink Business cards are an incredible opportunity to earn hundreds of thousands of Chase points with little effort, some of which have no annual fee. Their bonuses, ranging from 75,000 to 100,000 points, are labeled as cash back; although, like the Chase Freedom Flex, you can redeem the “cash back” for travel instead get a lot more bang for your buck.

Lastly, I couldn’t conclude this list of best travel credit cards for beginners without mentioning my trusty Capital One Venture card. While its premium version, the Capital One Venture X, tops the Capital One Venture for me because of its airport lounge access and annual $300 travel credit, the Capital One Venture is still a fantastic affordable travel credit card for beginners. Its annual fee is only $95, and it gives you 2x miles minimum on every purchase.

This means, even though you won’t have to pay a premium annual fee, you’ll earn double the miles without having to remember which card earns more on dining, which earns more on gas, etc. In layman’s terms, it’s a mindless, easy way to earn 2x points and miles. Plus, you get 75,000 valuable bonus points and miles (amazing airline transfer partners) when you spend $4000 in the first three months (currently elevated to 75,000 + $250 travel credit).