Best Travel Credit Cards For Beginners Of 2025

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has a beginner-friendly annual fee without compromising on reward redemption options or travel protections, making it a fantastic starter card.

Why We Like It

The top advantage of this card is its participation in the Chase Ultimate Rewards® program, a favorite among everyone from novices to advanced rewards travelers. You can earn an impressive welcome bonus on top of everyday rewards categories and even an annual points bonus equal to 10% of your total purchases from the prior year.

What’s more, Ultimate Rewards® are among the most versatile when it comes to redemptions. If you want to start small, you can redeem points as cash back to cover your travel. But, to level up, you can get 25% more value when you use your rewards to book trips through Chase Travel℠. You might be able to improve upon that redemption value even more by transferring your points to participating airline or hotel partners, making it a card you’ll love no matter where your travels take you.

Beyond rewards, you’ll also love that this card offers an annual hotel credit of $50 toward select stays booked with Chase Travel, has no foreign transaction fees and comes with an assortment of travel insurance and other protections.

What We Don’t Like 

Ironically, the earning rates on this card aren’t the highest in the bunch. In order to earn the card’s highest return on travel, you’ll need to book through Chase Travel, which may not be your preferred reservations channel. Additionally, most purchases earn a single point per dollar spent, which can be beat by numerous other credit cards.

Who It’s Best For

We recommend this card for anyone looking to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards without coughing up a sky-high annual fee.

The Chase Freedom Flex® isn’t a traditional travel card, but it does offer strong earning rates on bookings made through Chase Travel℠ for a card without an annual fee.

Why We Like It 

This card is great for earning cash back in categories that change every three months, offering up to 5% cash back. You’ll find other bonus categories on top of that, making it a top choice for nearly anyone who can keep the details straight.

Additional travel redemptions can be unlocked if paired with a premium Chase Ultimate Rewards® card. For households with multiple Chase credit cards, this can make it a particularly compelling option. But beginners may also be satisfied with using their rewards as cash back or applied to bookings made through Chase Travel, which is a great place to start.

You’ll also have access to an introductory APR offer, which can be useful if you’re looking to finance your travel (or other) charges over time: 0% intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 18.99% to 28.49% applies. Balance transfer fee of up to 5% (min. $5) of the amount of each transfer applies.

What We Don’t Like

The 5% bonus rewards come with several hurdles that might be a deterrent for beginners. You’ll need to activate the bonus categories each quarter and pay attention to a $1,500 spending cap on those categories before your earning rate drops. Additionally, the card charges foreign transaction fees, so it’s not ideal for traveling abroad.

Who It’s Best For

The Freedom Flex is best for anyone who’s up for tracking some bonus details and is looking for a no annual fee card.

The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card offers extremely generous travel rewards on purchases in multiple common spending categories for a quick route to amazing redemptions.

Why We Like It

Unlike most beginner cards, you don’t have to choose which spending categories are most important to you with the Strata Premier. Instead, you’ll be handsomely rewarded on expenses at home and while traveling. A strong welcome offer takes your earning potential even higher.

Like other flexible rewards cards, you’ll have several paths to redemption, depending on your preferences. Cardholders can redeem Citi ThankYou® Points as a statement credit or transfer their points to partner airlines and hotels. Though there are some obscure partners, there are also some amazing sweet spots, giving beginners something to aspire to.

The card has a handful of travel benefits as well, including limited travel protections and an annual $100 hotel savings benefit when you book a stay of at least $500 (excluding taxes and fees) through CitiTravel.com. Lastly, the card doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee.

What We Don’t Like

The card’s base rewards rate is low, and its annual hotel benefit requires you to spend $500 on a single hotel stay (excluding taxes and fees) through CitiTravel.com to get the $100 discount.

Who It’s Best For

With popular earning categories, this card is best for anyone who wants to maximize their everyday spending.

College students with an established credit history should consider the Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card for Students as they get started in the world of travel rewards.

Why We Like It

The card offers a liberal welcome bonus compared to other student cards and a high, flat rewards rate on every purchase you make. That’s a winning combination for a beginner travel card. Cardholders also pay no annual or foreign transaction fees, making it a worthy companion for a trip or semester abroad.

An introductory APR offer is another major perk for anyone new to this card, and it extends to both new purchases and balance transfers for extra flexibility.

What We Don’t Like

You need good credit to get approved, which might make it unattainable for college students looking for their first card.

Who It’s Best For

This card is designed for college students who want to earn travel rewards but don’t yet qualify for nonstudent cards.

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card (rates & fees) earns exceptional rates on all types of travel and doesn’t require you to book through a credit card portal to enjoy those returns.

Why We Like It

This card doesn’t require you to change your travel routines or behavior, which makes it a seamless transition for beginners looking to add a travel card to their wallet. Redeeming rewards is just as easy: You can choose from travel, gift cards, cash back or transfers to a growing list of airline and hotel partners.

Other reasons to love this card include its annual $50 statement credit when you charge a minimum of $50 qualifying airline expense to the card. That’s a smart way to extract extra value from the card. There are also no foreign transaction fees, making it an excellent choice for trips abroad.

What We Don’t Like

Compared to other flexible rewards cards, its list of transfer partners is currently limited. However, if you prefer to redeem your rewards in cash after earning them on travel, that might not be a problem.

Who It’s Best For

The Autograph Journey card is best for beginners who don’t want to book travel through a portal.

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card’s flat rewards rate makes it a no-brainer for people who prioritize simplicity but still want access to airline and hotel program transfers.

Why We Like It

You don’t have to keep track of bonus rewards categories with this card, making it the perfect option for beginners who might want to focus their attention on other things. It also offers one of the highest welcome bonuses in the industry: Earn 75,000 miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within three months of account opening plus a one-time $250 Capital One Travel credit to use in your first cardholder year. How’s that for whetting your travel appetite?

Travelers will also appreciate that the Venture Rewards card offers a statement credit to cover a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® application fee, and it doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees (rates & fees). You’ll also have multiple travel redemption options including booking through Capital One Travel, booking directly and requesting a statement credit or transferring your miles to one of Capital One’s 15-plus airline and hotel transfer partners.

What We Don’t Like

The biggest downfall to this card is that you’ll get less value from your rewards if you opt to redeem them for cash back instead of travel. Most travel fanatics won’t consider that a problem, but it could be a deciding factor for someone who only travels occasionally and prefers cash back.

Who It’s Best For

This card is best suited for people who want straightforward reward rates and flexible travel redemption options.

If you’re loyal to a hotel brand, getting its co-branded card can be a shortcut to elite status and bonus rewards. The Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (Terms apply, see rates & fees) helps you make the most of your Hilton hotel stays.

Why We Like It 

Complimentary Gold status with Hilton Honors™ when you hold this card can transform your stay from ordinary to extraordinary. Gold status comes with perks like daily food and beverage credits, space-available room upgrades and the fifth night free on award stays. Similarly, the card offers a free upgrade to National Car Rental Executive status after enrollment for more travel upgrades.

The card also provides up to $50 in statement credits each quarter when you pay with your card at Hilton properties, saving you some serious cash if you’re a frequent traveler.

High spenders can take advantage of a few other benefits, including an upgrade to Diamond status when you spend $40,000 or more in a calendar year and a Free Night Reward if you spend at least $15,000 on eligible purchases in the same time frame. However, even if you don’t hit these thresholds, the card still provides respectable value.

What We Don’t Like

Hilton redemptions often require a hefty sum of points, so the earning rates on this card might not take you as far as you’d think.

Who It’s Best For

This card is best for travelers who stay at Hilton properties most or all quarters of the year in order to take advantage of the card’s statement credits.

The Bilt World Elite Mastercard® is a must-have for renters who want to turn their biggest monthly expense into airline miles or hotel points.

Why We Like It

This card has the unique feature of allowing cardholders to earn up to 100,000 bonus points per calendar year on rent payments without additional processing fees. That alone makes the card interesting, but even if you disregard rent expenses, it’s a useful card.

The Bilt card has no annual fee (rates & fees) yet earns transferable points with a long list of popular travel partners. Alternatively, you can redeem through its travel portal, where points are worth 1.25 cents each.

You’ll enjoy some decent travel benefits, including no foreign transaction fees, trip cancellation and interruption protection, trip delay reimbursement and an auto rental collision damage waiver.

What We Don’t Like

You’ll need to keep this card at the top of your wallet to earn rewards—you’ll only earn points when you make at least five transactions per statement period (rewards & benefits).

Notably, this card is one of the few travel credit cards that doesn’t provide a welcome offer to new cardholders.

Who It’s Best For

The Bilt Mastercard will be most attractive to renters who want to earn travel rewards on their monthly rent payments.

Though most travel credit cards require good or excellent credit, the Credit One Bank® Wander® American Express® with Dining, Gas & Travel Rewards may be available to applicants still in the process of building their credit.

Why We Like It

The card offers outstanding rewards rates on flights, dining and gas purchases. Its earning rates compete head-to-head with other more premium cards, so you won’t be losing out with this as a starter card. You can earn even higher returns when booking select hotels and rental cars directly through the card travel portal.

Beginners may also appreciate some other basic features, such as the ability to choose your own payment due date and track your credit score. These can help keep you on the path to success.

What We Don’t Like

There’s no welcome bonus, and the card requires an annual fee despite not providing extras like transfer partners, trip protections or other travel perks.

Who It’s Best For

This card is best for people with fair credit who want to earn travel rewards while improving their credit.

Earning enough points for a free flight is a lofty goal, but the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card* makes it possible, even if you’re a beginner just learning the ropes.

Why We Like It

Those who love Southwest won’t need much convincing to look closely at this card. It provides several perks when flying with the airline, including two EarlyBird Check-Ins per year, statement credits worth 25% of your qualifying in-flight purchases and a 10,000-point boost toward earning the airline’s coveted Companion Pass, which allows passholders to bring a companion for only the cost of taxes and fees every time they fly while the pass is eligible.

But, realistically, it’s the points that truly make this card shine. New cardholders can earn 50,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That’s on top of points earned from everyday spending, which add up fast, and an anniversary bonus of 6,000 points each year after you renew the card. Plus, Southwest is very beginner-friendly. The airline doesn’t play games with pricing or blackout dates, making it spectacularly easy to redeem rewards toward your next trip.

Why We Don’t Like It

Southwest has a limited route network, no first-class seats and one international partner, which might mean you can’t get where you want to go.

Who It’s Best For

This card is great for travelers looking to earn airline miles specifically for travel on Southwest.