Our Top Travel Credit Cards (Updated March 2023)
*Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
Between restrictions like Chase’s 5/24 rule and some bonus offers only being available for a limited-time, it’s important to strategize the time and order in which you sign up for new credit cards. To help you prioritize your credit card sign-ups, we update this post every month to include what we believe are the top credit card offers on the market. Since we’re covering what we consider to be the best offers — not just limited time offers — some of the cards on this list may remain consistent from month to month.
Current Offer: 175,000 points after spending $3,000 within the first 3 months of card opening
Annual Fee: $99
Why it’s great: Cardholders can earn a whopping 26 points per dollar when staying at IHG properties and receive a free night award every year after renewing the card (which alone makes this card pay for itself). Given IHG's massive global footprint and attractive new IHG One Rewards program, this card has become a lot more interesting in recent months. Plus, the welcome bonus of 175,000 Bonus Points on a $99 card is absolutely bonkers. If you aren't already interested in IHG hotels, you might be after seeing this offer.
Other Benefits:
- 5x points on travel, dining and gas stations
- 3x on all other purchases
- Earn a $100 statement credit and 10,000 points after spending $20,000 in a calendar year
- Receive your fourth night free when booking IHG stays with points
Current Offer: A total of 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months.
Annual Fee: $395
Why it’s great: At first glance the annual fee may seem expensive, but each year you receive a $300 travel credit that’s super easy to use. Plus, each year on your card anniversary, you’ll receive 10,000 bonus miles which are $100 in free travel. Those two perks alone cover the cost of the annual fee.
Plus, this card gives you free priority pass membership which gives you an unlimited number of visits to 1,300+ Priority Pass lounges worldwide.
I’ve saved the best perk for last, and that’s the 75,000 bonus miles you’ll receive after meeting the minimum spend! Capital One Rewards allow users to book travel or cover travel booked in the previous 90 days for one cent per mile. That means this card is would cover $750 on travel, even retroactively! Capital One miles can also be transferred to a number of airline programs at a ratio of 2:1.5, allowing for true flexibility in booking the best reward flights.
Other Benefits:
- No foreign transaction fees
- Receive up to $300 back annually as statement credits for bookings through Capital One Travel
- 10,000 mile anniversary bonus
- 10x miles on hotels and cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 5x miles on flights booked through Capital One Travel
- 2x miles on all other purchases
Current Offer: None 😮
Annual Fee: $0
Why it’s great: Don't be scared off by the fact that this card doesn't come with a signup bonus - you might just find you can get just as much or more value as the cards that have hefty signup offers. Bilt is the only card out there that lets you earn points just for paying your rent, no fees attached. They also have some competitive earning rates to begin with, but those rates are doubled on the first day of every month, allowing you to squeeze even more value out of every dollar you spend. Oh, and did we mention they have more than a dozen hotel and airline transfer partners? For a $0 annual fee card it really doesn;t get better than this.
Other Benefits:
- Earn 3x points on dining, 2x points on travel, and 1 point on everything else
- Double earning rates on the 1st of every month
- Earn up to 50,000 points per year for paying your rent
- Transfer to 14 different airlines and hotels
- Earn interest on your points
Current Offer: Earn 60,000 points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open, plus 40,000 points after you spend $20,000 on purchases in the first 12 months your account is open. That's a total of 100,000 Aeroplan points in your first year of holding the card.
Annual Fee: $95
Why it’s great: Although Aeroplan is the award program for Air Canada, it's also the single most versatile points program in the world.
Aeroplan has over 50 airline partners, allows you to mix and match airlines on a single booking, and lets you add a stopover for only 5,000 points, a feature that few other programs offer.
This card has solid earning rates in various spending categories, and has the unique feature of offering Aeroplan 25k elite status for the remainder of the calendar year in which you open the card, as well as the full calendar year after.
This status can get you free upgrades, bonus points, lounge passes, and more.
*** If you want to learn more about the Aeroplan program, check out our deep dive on how to leverage the program for all your travel hacking needs.***
Other Benefits:
- No foreign transaction fees
- Earn 3x at grocery stores and on dining (including eligible takeout and delivery services)
- Earn 500 bonus points for every $2,000 you spend in a calendar month
- Receive exclusive benefits when flying with Air Canada
- Your Aeroplan points will never expire as long as you hold the card
- $100 credit for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or Nexus
Current Offer: 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 within the first three months.
Annual Fee: $95
Why it’s great: The Chase Sapphire Preferred is one of my favorite cards! Ultimate Reward points are very valuable, given their flexibility and ability to use to make an award booking. The points are worth more when redeemed through the Chase Travel Portal, at 1.25 cents each. So your 60,000 bonus points are worth $750 in free travel! You can also transfer your points at a 1:1 ratio to the following airlines: United, Singapore, British Airways, Korean, Southwest, and Virgin Atlantic. Chase Sapphire Preferred is currently netting card holders 5x points on travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3x points on dining, including eligible delivery services, 3x points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs), 3x points on streaming services, and 2x points on all other travel spending.
Other Benefits:
- No foreign transaction fees
- $50 credit on Ultimate Rewards Hotels annually
- Discounts on DoorDash with free DashPass subscription for one year (if activated by 12/31/24)
- Car rental insurance
- Travel accident insurance
Current Offer: Earn 100,000 Hilton Honors Bonus Points after you spend $2,000 in purchases on the Card in the first 6 months of Card Membership. Offer ends 4/5/23.
Annual Fee: $0
Why it’s great: This $0 per year card offers 100,000 Hilton points, which is already and insane value for something that's free. Given the excellent earning rates on general spending categories and 6 points per dollar spent at Hilton hotels, this card is an excellent option for anyone looking to enter the hotel loyalty game (and reap hundreds of dollars of value in the process).
Other Benefits:
- No foreign transaction fees
- Earn 7X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged directly with hotels and resorts within the Hilton portfolio.
- Complimentary Hilton Honors Silver status
- No annual fee
Current Offer: 80,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $6,000 within the first six months.
Annual Fee: $695
Why it’s great: The American Express Platinum Card offers some of the best perks available. The welcome bonus of 80,000 points (after spending $6,000 in the first 6 months) is an excellent value, and the $695 is completely offset by spending credits. This card will also net 5x the points on select hotel and flight purchases. Of course, our favorite benefit from this card has to be entrance to the American Express Global Lounge Collection, which includes access to the Centurion Lounge. Terms and restrictions apply to these fantastic benefits.
Other Benefits:
- No foreign transaction fees
- Up to $200 statement credit for airline incidental fees, after enrollment
- Up to $200 statement credit on select hotel spending (which requires a minimum two-night stay)
- Up to $240 digital spending credit for Peacock, Audible, SiriusXM, and The New York Times, after enrollment
- Up to $200 credit for Uber, after enrollment.
- Up to $300 credit for Equinox spending, after enrollment
- $189 credit for Clear® membership annually
- Global Entry spending credit, after enrollment
Current Offer: Earn 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening.
Annual Fee: $95
Why it’s great: This is a great starter card for anyone looking for a simple, cheap option to start racking up points. The 60,000 points alone are worth at least $600 in value, or even more if you transfer them to travel partners like Emirates, Air France, KLM, JetBlue, or Virgin Atlantic. To make things even better, you'll earn 3x points at restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, air travel, and hotels (basically everything you normally spend money on).
Other Benefits:
- $100 annual hotel savings benefit (on a single hotel stay of $500 or more booked through thankyou.com)
- Transfer points to 16 airline programs, from JetBlue to Virgin Atlantic
- No foreign transaction fees
Current Offer: 60,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $4,000 in the first six months
Annual Fee: $250
Why it’s great: The American Express Gold card has great earning potential, including 4x points on all restaurants, take out and delivery (in the U.S.) and U.S. supermarket spending as well as 3x points on booked flights.
Other Benefits:
- $120 in dining credits, $10 per month, after enrollment
- $120 Uber Cash: Add your Gold Card to your Uber account and each month automatically get $10 in Uber Cash for Uber Eats orders or Uber rides in the U.S., totaling up to $120 per year.
- No foreign transaction fees
Current Offer: Earn 50,000 American Airlines miles after spending $5,000 within the first 3 months of account opening.
Annual Fee: $450
Why it’s great: This card has many meaningful benefits for frequent flyers of American Airlines. Most notably, this card gives you a complimentary Admirals Club® membership worth up to $650. If a ton of miles, great benefits, and unlimited lounge access sound good to you, then this is definitely a card worth picking up.
Other Benefits:
- Priority Boarding on American Airlines flights
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® application fee credit up to $100 every 5 years
- Free checked bag on American Airlines flights
- Priority check-in and priority airport screening (where available)
- 25% savings on inflight food and beverage purchases on American Airlines flights
Current Offer: A total of 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 in the first three months
Annual Fee: $95
Why it’s great: Capital One Rewards allow users to book travel or cover travel booked in the previous 90 days for one cent per mile. That means this card is would cover over $750 on travel, even retroactively! Capital One miles can also be transferred to a number of airline programs at a ratio of 1:1, allowing for true flexibility in booking the best reward flights.
Other Benefits:
- $100 rebate on Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fees
- 2x the points on all spending
- No foreign transaction fees
That wraps up our review of the top personal travel credit card offers for this month. If you found this post useful, we’d be super grateful if you used our links to start your next credit card application!
If you're still confused after looking through this list, creditcards.com has a tool that can help give a recommendation based on your personal credit and situation:
Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.