As I continue my own credit card points journey, my list of personal best travel credit cards is constantly evolving. I’m big on the suite of American Express cards as I get so much value out of them—the AmEx Platinum is my go-to with the Gold a close second—though the Chase Sapphire Preferred is a top contender for those who want to travel but can’t justify a high annual fee. And if you haven’t already considered business cards, they’re a great way to rack up points without paying much at all in annual fees (even if you don’t have an established business yet and are just a freelancer!).

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In the past two years, we used points on two vacations to Europe to cover our flights and rental cars, plus three weeks in Thailand and Qatar, as well as trips to Tucson and Hawaii on points. Since last summer, I’ve accumulated an additional 1,000,000 rewards points, through sign-up bonuses, meeting minimum spends and taking advantage of bonus categories.

Here are the travel credit cards I currently use—and how and when I use each. I highly recommend cards with no foreign transaction fees, which includes all of the below cards, if you plan to travel internationally. And if you decide to sign up for one, please use my included referral link so I also get bonus points along with yours!

Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is what I consider the gateway card to travel points earning. It’s under the Chase Ultimate Rewards flexible points system—which is key because it means you can spend those points on so many different airlines, hotels or car rental companies—and it’s also got a low annual fee, making it easy to justify for those who are looking for the best travel credit card for their needs (and possibly their first). You can also combine Chase points across products if you hold multiple cards.

Benefits of the Chase Sapphire Preferred include:

• $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit, plus more
• 5X per $1 on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 2x per $1 on other travel purchases
• 3X per $1 on dining, including eligible delivery services, takeout and dining out
• 3X per $1 on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
• 3x per $1 on select streaming services

Annual fee: $95

Current sign-up bonus: 60,000 points

Explore current elevated offers here.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great intro card for anyone who wants to get in this game and test the waters without committing to a high annual fee. For years, it was the only travel credit card I had until I eventually product-changed and got the Chase Sapphire Reserve instead.

You can only hold one Sapphire product at a time, so you can’t get this one if you’re applying for the Preferred, but it’s worth investigating if you’re someone who travels a lot. In the credit card universe, you’ll hear what is referred to as the 5/24 rule often. That simply means that in Chase’s mind, you can only apply to and receive five credit cards (from any company) in a 24-month period.

Benefits of the Chase Sapphire Reserve include:

• Receive a $300 travel statement credit reimbursements each anniversary year
• 5X per $1 on flights purchased through Chase
• 10X per $1 on hotels and car rentals through Chase after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually
• 3X per $1 on dining at restaurants, including eligible delivery services, takeout, and dining out
• 10X per $1 on Lyft rides
• Discounts on DoorDash with free DashPass subscription‍
• One statement credit of up to $100 every four years for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS
• Access to the Chase Sapphire Lounge by The Club
• Complimentary membership to Priority Pass lounges (access to 1,300+ lounges in 500 cities worldwide)
• Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance

Annual fee: $550

Current sign-up bonus: 60,000 points

Explore current elevated offers here.

The 5/24 rule is important to keep in mind because if you do decide to play the points game, you will want to make sure you always hover somewhere under that number, meaning that you keep a detailed spreadsheet of any credit cards you hold, as well as when you opened them. If you are close to hitting 5/24, you’ll want to consider going for other cards like American Express while your credit card history with Chase cools off.

Southwest Priority Card

If you fly Southwest regularly, this is the best travel credit card for you. Why? Well, if you earn 135,000 points, you get Southwest Companion Pass status, meaning a plus one will fly for free with you for the rest of the calendar year in which you earned it in addition to the following year. What does this mean? You should plan on hitting your sign-up bonus in January and not a minute before!

Benefits of the Southwest Priority Card include:

• 10,000 Companion Pass points every year
• 3X per $1 spent on Southwest Airlines purchases
• 2X per $1 spent on internet, cable, and phone services; select streaming
• $75 Southwest annual travel credit

Annual fee: $99

Current sign-up bonus: 85,000 points for personal card, or you could go for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Credit Card for 80,000

While the Southwest cards are Chase products, you earn miles directly deposited to your Rapid Rewards account instead of Ultimate Rewards in the Chase ecosystem. To earn Companion Pass on credit cards alone, you’ll need to open one Southwest card—I recommend the Performance Business to start—and then wait 30 days and open a personal card like the Plus, Premier or Priority. Here’s the best strategy to do this.

Explore current Southwest card bonuses here.

The Platinum Card® from American Express

This is the gold standard card for those who travel often and well. It’s not for the frugal traveler, as the annual fee is high, but the American Express Platinum is worth it for many, myself included. That said, you absolutely have to go into the benefits section of your dashboard and enable everything to make the fee worth it.

Benefits of the AmEx Platinum include:

• $200 Hotel Credit: Get up to $200 back in statement credits each year on prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® or The Hotel Collection bookings
• $240 Digital Entertainment Credit: Get up to $20 back in statement credits each month on eligible purchases made with your Platinum Card® on one or more of the following: Disney+, a Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, The New York Times, Peacock, and The Wall Street Journal. Enrollment required.
• $155 Walmart+ Credit: Save on eligible delivery fees, shipping, and more with a Walmart+ membership. Use your Platinum Card® to pay for a monthly Walmart+ membership and get up to $12.95 plus applicable taxes back on one membership (excluding Plus Ups) each month.
• $200 Airline Fee Credit
• $200 Uber Cash
• $189 CLEAR® Plus Credit
• A $100 statement credit every 4 years for a Global Entry application fee or a statement credit up to $85 every 4.5 year period for TSA PreCheck® application fee for a 5-year plan only when charged to your Platinum Card®. Card Members approved for Global Entry will also receive access to TSA PreCheck at no additional cost.
• Get up to $100 in statement credits annually for purchases in Saks Fifth Avenue stores or at saks.com on your Platinum Card®. Enrollment required.

(rates and fees apply)

Annual fee: $695

Current sign-up bonus: 80,000 points

Other benefits include an annual $300 Equinox or SoulCycle credit and 5x points on flights or travel booked through AmEx. So far, not including my sign-up bonus, my annual benefits for the AmEx Platinum exceed $1,100, and that’s not including the cash value of being Gold with both Hilton and Marriott and also lounge access. I’ve also found a lot of value in having the The Business Platinum Card® from American Express as a supplementary card.

Explore current AmEx sign-up bonuses here.

Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card

This card has similar perks to the Chase Sapphire Reserve at a lower fee—plus advance ticket access to things like bowl games and concerts (it did not, however, help me get Taylor Swift tickets). That said, the Cap One Venture X does offer 2x on all purchases, so if you open it, this is a great everyday spend card for categories where you may not receive regular bonuses (think: hardware stores, pet stores, medical bills). If the network of Capital One lounges expands in the future, this one might get a higher spot on my list in the future. There’s also the Capital One Venture, which is a lower fee of $95 with similar perks.

• 10x on hotels and cars booked through Capital One Travel
• 5x on flights booked through Capital One Travel
• 2x on all other purchases
• Unlimited access to Capital One Lounges
• Complimentary access to Priority Pass lounges
• Receive up to a $100 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck
• Receive a $300 travel credit annually for bookings through Capital One Travel
• Get 10,000 miles as your anniversary bonus

Annual fee: $395

Current sign-up bonus: 75,000 points

Explore current Capital One bonuses here.

Related post: Global Entry vs. TSA PreCheck: Which One is Better?

A few other credit card tips

These are other credit cards that I use for everyday purchases, particularly for software (AmEx Biz Platinum), subscriptions (the Inks), as well as groceries (the AmEx Gold):

• Chase Ink Business Unlimited
• Chase Ink Business Cash
• Chase Ink Business Premier
• American Express® Gold Card
• American Express® Business Gold Card
• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express

Note: You can have multiple Inks, even of the exact same card, which you can’t do for other popular credit cards like the Chase Sapphires. Here are a few nuggets to keep in mind as you figure out the best travel credit card for your needs:

Having multiple cards alone will not hurt your credit

Contrary to popular belief, holding multiple credit cards will not damage your credit score if you do it right, including not having too many credit inquiries (or hard pulls) in a set amount of time as well as paying off your balance in full every statement cycle so you don’t find yourself paying interest. I repeat: You should only play this game if you have good credit already and can pay off your credit cards monthly. Free travel is awesome, but there’s nothing worth getting into credit card debt over!

Use all the benefits and offers

Many cards like the AmEx Platinum and the Chase Sapphire Reserve have very high annual fees. One way to justify it? Take advantage of every benefit and offer and activate them upon activating your card. For the AmEx card alone, I get $1200 a year back in bonuses and other perks, not counting my lounge access. Don’t get the cards solely for the points; get them if you plan to use all the perks—and also check regularly for the monthly offers and quarterly bonuses that you can activate via your credit card dashboard.

Many cards offer insurance, so use it

The majority of these best travel credit cards I’ve featured include some form of trip delay or cancellation and baggage insurance, meaning if something happens and you find yourself needing a hotel at an airport in a pinch, you’ll likely be able to get reimbursed. Likewise, they often include both primary rental car insurance and cell insurance, so if you book your trips with these cards and something goes wrong, you can file a claim for reimbursement.

Related Post: What to Do When Your Airbnb Host Cancels Last Minute

Stay within a flexible points system

The best way to accrue points you can actually use are to play within both Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) and American Express Membership Rewards (MR). UR points transfer 1:1 to so many different airlines including Delta, Southwest, Air Canada, British Airways and United, though often I simply use them by booking flights through the Ultimate Rewards portal (always cross-check awards availability via the airline’s website first to make sure you’re not spending more points than needed). MR also have a good roster of transfer partners, which include Delta, Qantas, Virgin, and Singapore Air and Hilton and Marriott on the hotels side.

Don’t cancel cards, product change them instead

One way to build up a great credit score is by having a long history of credit, which includes cards you’ve had open for years (my lengthiest streak is 17 years!). When adding new cards to your roster, it’s often best to keep the old ones—when it makes sense—and just carry a balance of $0. So, for example, even if you decide to change from a Chase Sapphire Preferred to a Reserve, rather than canceling the Preferred outright, you’ll want to call Chase and PC (product change) it to one of the no-fee Freedom cards instead.

That said, at times you may have to cancel a card if you plan to reopen it for a new bonus—the rule is usually that you can’t receive a sign-up bonus for the same card within either 24 or 48 months—which I’m finding myself doing this week to take advantage of getting the Companion Pass through my Southwest credit cards points.

Co-branded cards often aren’t worth it

Co-branded cards like a Sephora or Delta credit card are typically not worth using a credit card slot on. If you’re more of a casual flier with no loyalty to one airline over another, it’s generally smarter to get a Chase Sapphire Reserve or AmEx Platinum that is in one of the flexible point ecosystems (meaning you can transfer your points to many different partners).

Southwest cards for the Companion Pass status is an exception to the rule or if you are a frequent flier who stays loyal to one airline. If you’re more of a casual takes-a-few-trips-a-year kind of traveler, you’ll want to start your points journey in the Chase or AmEx ecosystems.

Transfer monthly payments to meet a new SUB

Every time I get a new credit card, I transfer over any recurring payments like my phone or our insurance, which help me quickly meet a sign-up bonus (SUB). It’s an easy way to capitalize on money I’m already spending by earning points I can use toward travel. And while you can’t pay a mortgage on a credit card, you can pay pretty much everything else including income tax and property tax. Get those points for big payments you’re already making!

Related Post: Tax Prep for Freelancers, Bloggers & Biz Owners: A Q&A with Accountants

The value of points depends on what you spend them on

No matter what credit card you use, the value of individual points will depend on if you spend them on gift cards, online shopping or travel. I find that travel usually yields a higher point value, and you often can get even more out of each point by transferring them to travel partners (assuming a 1:1 transfer rate). You can also take advantage of bonus periods when your credit card, for example, offers 5x points on gas or pay-yourself-back bonuses. Just paying attention to these small details can bank you a good stockpile of points in no time.

What’s your favorite travel credit card?

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.

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.

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