The Best Travel Cards for Beginners: Start Here

The world of travel credit cards can be very confusing, especially for anyone who is a beginner in points & miles.

Today we are going to talk about a few travel cards that our experts recommend starting with. In particular, the 3 cards to consider are as follows:

1. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is widely considered to be one of the best travel credit cards on the market, and for good reason. The welcome offer alone is worth hundreds of dollars in free travel.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred also comes with a handful of perks that make it a must-have for any avid traveler, including 3x points on all travel purchases, a $50 annual hotel credit, a 25% bonus when redeeming points to book travel through Chase and primary rental car coverage.

Best of all, you get all of this for a very reasonable annual fee that is a fraction of what is charged by most other travel cards.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is a must-have card for travelers and credit card gurus everywhere.

Come with me as we explore the many features and perks of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, starting with a generous welcome bonus.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Has A Great Sign Up Bonus & Earning Structure

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card‘s current welcome offer is worth a minimum of $750 when redeemed for travel booked via the Chase Travel Portal, with the potential to fetch even more value when you take advantage of the many airline and hotel transfer partners.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Has A Reasonable Annual Fee

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard someone say “why should I pay the bank for the privilege of using their credit card?”

And I totally get it,  nobody likes paying fees for anything.

But it’s important to remember that they only represent half of the equation. You have to also consider the value being offered by the card.

This is where the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card shines. The annual fee is only $95 a year, but the card comes with a ton of perks that more than offset the cost of the fee.

Most importantly, you have to remember that the Sapphire Preferred comes with a bonus that is worth $750+ of travel, which is more than 10x the cost of the annual fee.

You’re coming out ahead right off the bat, so you have nothing to lose by giving it a try.

Redeeming Your Points is Easy & You Can Use Them for All Sorts of Travel (And More!)

Points are worthless if you’re unable to redeem them. Thankfully, this isn’t a problem for the Chase Sapphire Preferred due to the many options you have for using your points.

The easiest way to redeem your points is through the Chase Travel Portal. It looks and feels like any other travel booking site so you should find it to be pretty simple to use.

You can book any flight, any hotel, even rental cars with your points at a value of 1.25 cents per point.

Another popular way to redeem points is by utilizing transfer partners. Rather than book through the travel portal, you can transfer your points to a number of hotel and airline loyalty programs.

Looking to book an all inclusive hotel in Mexico? You can transfer to Hyatt and book the Hyatt Ziva or Zilara. Need a flight to Europe? You can transfer to United and fly on a number of Star Alliance partners.

With so many options, it’s easy to redeem the points from the Sapphire Preferred to help offset the costs of your next trip.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Is Loaded with Travel Perks

Sure, the points are great. But what else makes the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card special?

Two words: Travel perks

Primary Car Rental Coverage

Perhaps the greatest travel perk offered by Chase Sapphire Preferred is the primary rental car insurance. Simply use your Sapphire Preferred to pay for any car rental and you’re covered should anything happen to the car.

No need to pay the ~$25 daily fee to the rental company or worry about filing a claim with your auto insurer, the Chase Sapphire Preferred has you covered.

Trip Cancellation & Trip Interruption Insurance

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card also has you covered should your trip be cancelled or interrupted.

Simply use your Sapphire Preferred to pay for your trip and you are eligible to receive up to $500 per ticket in the event that your trip is delayed for 12+ hours or requiring an overnight stay. You can use this credit to cover accommodations, ground travel, meals and more.

Your Sapphire Preferred also comes with up to $10,000 of coverage for trip cancellations for qualifying events when you pay for a portion of your trip with the card. This protects you against things like severe weather, medical emergencies that would prevent you from traveling, jury duty and more.

The Sapphire Preferred also comes with a handful of non-travel perks including extended warranty protection and no foreign transaction fees.

Best of all, these perks are yours for no additional charge. You get them simply for being a Chase Sapphire Preferred Cardholder.

2. American Express® Gold Card

The American Express® Gold Card (see rates and fees) is another great option for beginners thanks to its generous welcome offer, great spending rewards, and reasonable annual fee.

The American Express Gold Card earns 4x points per $1 spent at restaurants worldwide, including takeout and delivery. It also earns 4x points per $1 spent at U.S. Supermarkets (up to $25,000 per year in purchases, 1x thereafter), 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or through Amex Travel, and 1x on all other purchases.

These incredible spending rewards make the American Express Gold Card a great option for anyone who is new to points & miles. The points add up fast and they can be redeemed for many different types of travel.

3. Citi Premier Card

The Citi Premier Card is a great choice for beginners thanks to its lucrative welcome offer and the flexibility of the points it earns. This is perhaps one of the most misunderstood cards on the market.

The Citi Premier Card earns 3x points at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, and air travel & hotels. You’ll earn 1x point per $1 spent on all else.

You can transfer points earned with the Citi Premier Card to a handful of airlines and hotels or redeem them to book travel via the Citi Travel Center at a value of 1.25 cents per point.

This incredible flexibility makes it easy to redeem your points at a high value, even if you are somewhat new to using points & miles.

Bottom Line

There’s plenty of other cards out there that you could get, but the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the best beginner travel credit card because it is the full package.

You might also consider the American Express Gold Card and Citi Premier Card if Sapphire Preferred is not a good fit.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred comes with a good welcome bonus (worth $750+ of free travel), earns points quickly, offers points that are both valuable and easy to use, and comes with a bunch of travel perks that are valuable to all types of travelers. All for a very reasonable annual fee.

Upgrade your travel today with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.