The 7 best travel credit cards of 2023

A lot of Americans are planning to take a vacation or two in the new year, and one of the easiest ways to get one for little to no cost is to have a travel credit card. That’s where CNN Underscored’s list of the best travel credit cards for 2023 can come in handy. The right credit card can earn you enough in travel rewards to make your getaway easier, or more enjoyable, or — dare we say it — even almost free.

Our comprehensive methodology compares every aspect of each travel credit card to our “benchmark credit card” — the Citi® Double Cash Card — to determine which cards can get you the most perks or rewards. So take a few minutes to check out our list of the best travel credit cards in 2023 and think about which one might get you that vacation getaway you’ve been dreaming about.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: Best overall travel card
American Express® Gold Card: Best “non-travel” travel card
Chase Sapphire Reserve®: Best for travel purchases
The Platinum Card® from American Express: Best luxury travel perks
Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card: Best airline travel card
World of Hyatt Credit Card: Best hotel travel card
Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card: Best for easy-to-use travel rewards

Why did we select these cards as our best travel credit cards for 2023? Dive into the details of each card with us and see how they stack up.

Why it’s great in one sentence: The Chase Sapphire Preferred earns valuable Ultimate Rewards points for every dollar you spend on it, and the points can be redeemed for travel and other eligible categories at 1.25 cents per point, or transferred to the program’s airline and hotel partners for potentially even more useful travel redemptions.

This card is right for: People with larger than average travel and/or dining expenses (including food delivery) who want a low-fee card with basic transferable points.

Highlights:

Sign-up bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.

What we like about the Chase Sapphire Preferred: It may not seem like it, but at over a decade old, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is practically the granddaddy of travel credit cards. With classic travel, dining, streaming services and online grocery bonus categories, 5 points per dollar on Lyft rides through March 2025 and a 60,000-point sign-up bonus, it should be easy to quickly score plenty of points with the card.

Speaking of points, most food delivery services will code as “dining” on the Sapphire Preferred and earn 3 points per dollar, just like at a restaurant, so you’re covered even when you’re not on a big trip. And card holders also get a complimentary DashPass subscription for at least one year when they activate it by Dec. 31, 2024.

But the real power of the Chase Sapphire Preferred is in its redemptions. You’ll get 1.25 cents per point when redeeming points through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal, and can get potentially even more value when transferring points to one of Chase’s 14 travel partners. In fact, the Ultimate Rewards program still features some of the best transfer partners, including United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Hyatt Hotels, and all Chase partners transfer at a 1-to-1 ratio.

The issuer’s “Pay Yourself Back” tool also allows you to redeem points on purchases beyond just travel, in a set of eligible categories that change periodically. And when you redeem your points this way, you’ll get the same 1.25 cents per point as you do for booking travel.

To top it off, you can safely use the Chase Sapphire Preferred overseas, since it has no foreign transaction fees. It even provides primary car rental insurance, so you don’t have to look to your own auto policy first if you have an accident with your rental car.

What could be better: The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a classic, but in some ways it’s starting to get long in the tooth. Although Chase has added more bonus categories and a higher earning rate on dining purchases to the card in the last few years, other credit cards offer bonus points or cash back in the same travel categories, and in some cases at higher rates (though usually accompanied by higher annual fees).

Even our benchmark Citi Double Cash card earns 2% on all purchases (1% when you buy, plus 1% when you pay it off), though you can get more value when redeeming your Sapphire Preferred points than you can with simple cash back.

For many people, the Chase Sapphire Preferred isn’t as flashy as its older sibling, the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which comes with travel perks and a $300 annual travel credit (but also a much higher annual fee). But if you don’t need or won’t use all those extra perks, you may be better off with this significantly less expensive version.

Where it beats our benchmark card: Travel and dining bonus categories, excellent travel protections, solid airline and hotel partners and sign-up bonus.

Where our benchmark card is better: The Citi Double Cash has no annual fee, an introductory rate on balance transfers and easy cash back.

Read CNN Underscored’s Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card review.
Learn more and apply now for the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

Why it’s great in one sentence: The American Express Gold card earns tons of valuable Amex travel points on practically all the food-related purchases you’re making even when you’re not traveling, and the credits available on the card nearly offset its annual fee.

This card is right for: People who can utilize all of the card’s various credits and who spend significant money at restaurants, on food delivery services or at U.S. supermarkets while they’re not on the road.

Highlights:

Welcome bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first six months after opening the account.

What we like about the American Express Gold: Calling it our “best ‘non-travel’ travel card” may sound odd, but the Amex Gold is a perfect choice if you want to earn as many travel points as possible even when you’re not traveling, and then have lots of ways to use those points on trips down the line.

First, with the Amex Gold, you’ll earn 4 points for every dollar you spend on restaurants worldwide, and on up to $25,000 in annual purchases at U.S. supermarkets (1 point per dollar thereafter). Most food delivery services count as “restaurants” on this card, so that means the vast majority of your food purchases will earn 4x points, regardless of how you’re eating.

You’ll also earn 3 points per dollar when you book airfare directly with an airline, so if you’re looking to jump on any sales for flights later in the year, you can pay for them with the Amex Gold and earn extra points on those as well.

The points earned with this card are American Express Membership Rewards points, which you can redeem directly for flights via Amex Travel at 1 cent each. But if you put in some extra effort and research, you can potentially get much more value from them by transferring them to any of Amex’s 20 airline and hotel partners, which include Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Marriott and many more.

Then there are the annual credits. While the Amex Gold has a substantial $250 annual fee, you can earn almost as much from the card’s credits as you pay for it.

Each year you have the Amex Gold, you earn up to $120 in dining credits, which can be used for purchases at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar and select Shake Shack locations (enrollment required). These are doled out in portions of up to $10 each month, but the credits don’t roll over from month to month, so you must use them or lose them.

You’ll also get up to $120 in Uber Cash each year with the Amex Gold. Again, these credits come in $10 monthly installments and can be used either for Uber rides in the US or on Uber Eats orders. Combining the Uber Cash and dining credits will give you up to $240 in annual credits, which would leave you with an effective annual fee of only $10 if you can use them all.

What could be better: The one big downside of the Amex Gold is that most of the annual credits come in monthly installments rather than annual chunks, so you’ll need to make sure you can take advantage of them each month to make the card worth it.

Also, while Amex points are valuable, they’re best used for the airline and hotel transfer partners, which take some time to understand and flexibility to maximize. If you’d prefer to just book flights through a standard online travel portal, you might be better off with one of the Chase or Capital One cards, which can offer more value when redeeming rewards the easy way.

Where it beats our benchmark card: Welcome bonus, annual credits, bonus categories and solid airline and hotel partners.

Where our benchmark card is better: The Citi Double Cash has no annual fee, an introductory rate on balance transfers and easy cash back.

Read CNN Underscored’s American Express Gold Card review.
Learn more about the American Express Gold Card.

Why it’s great in one sentence: The hugely popular Chase Sapphire Reserve comes with a high price tag but also a $300 annual travel credit, airport lounge access, a massive earning rate when you use Lyft and at least 3 points for every dollar you spend on travel and dining.

This card is right for: People who make lots of travel purchases, even in their daily lives when they’re not on the road.

Highlights:

Sign-up bonus: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.

What we like about the Chase Sapphire Reserve: When it first launched in 2016, the Chase Sapphire Reserve was an instant hit, thanks in part to its broad travel and dining categories. It’s incredibly easy to earn bonus points with the card, since “dining” includes almost every restaurant, fast food and even food delivery services such as Seamless.

The ability to redeem points you earn with the Chase Sapphire Reserve for any flight or hotel at a rate of 1.5 cents per point via the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal makes the card’s rewards easy to use, though you’ll potentially get even more value if you can dive into the more advanced airline and hotel transfer partners.

Also, like the Sapphire Preferred, Chase’s “Pay Yourself Back” feature is also available on the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which allows you to redeem points on purchases beyond just travel. The eligible categories change on a regular basis, and when you redeem this way, you’ll get 1.5 cents per point.

And if you plan to fly regularly in 2023, you’ll find solid value in the card’s Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership, with access for you and up to two guests to over 1,300 lounges around the world.

What could be better: With a $550 annual fee on the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you really need to be able to use all of the card’s perks for the price to make sense.

The Lyft bonus category means you’ll earn an impressive 10 points for every dollar you spend on the ride-sharing service through March 2025, but it won’t be of any use to most people who aren’t currently using Lyft. The same goes for the card’s free DashPass membership, which must be activated by Dec. 31, 2024, and is only valuable to folks who order food for delivery and have DoorDash service in their area.

And while the travel and dining bonus categories were market-leading over five years ago, there are now other credit cards with similar if not even better earning rates in those categories, such as the Amex Gold, which earns 4 points per dollar on restaurant purchases worldwide. Or, if the annual fee on the Sapphire Reserve is too much to stomach, consider the cheaper Chase Sapphire Preferred with fewer travel perks but only a $95 annual fee.

Where it beats our benchmark card: Easy-to-use travel credit, travel and dining bonus categories, excellent travel protections, solid airline and hotel partners, and sign-up bonus.

Where our benchmark card is better: The Citi Double Cash has no annual fee, an introductory rate on balance transfers and easy cash back.

Read CNN Underscored’s Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card review.
Learn more and apply now for the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Why it’s great in one sentence: It’s definitely not cheap, but the famous American Express Platinum card is a heavyweight when it comes to travel perks, with numerous annual credits; access to more than 1,200 airport lounges worldwide, including Amex’s own Centurion Lounges and Delta Sky Clubs when flying Delta; elite status with Hilton, Marriott, Hertz, Avis and National Car Rental; and many other luxury travel benefits.

This card is right for: People who want top-notch luxury travel perks, refundable travel credits and transferable travel rewards.

Highlights:

Welcome bonus: Earn 80,000 bonus points after you make $6,000 in eligible purchases in your first six months.

What we like about the American Express Platinum: For an annual fee of $695 a year, you need to be able to really take advantage of the perks of this card to make it worth the cost. But if you hit the road with this card, you’ll feel like a true VIP.

The Amex Platinum has access to literally thousands of airport lounges, including Amex’s own Centurion Lounges, which are considered some of the best domestic airport lounges in the US. To many road warriors, this benefit is worth the cost of the card all by itself.

But if you can also take advantage of the card’s up-to-$200 annual incidental airline fee credit as well as the up-to-$200 annual Uber credit, plus the up-to-$100 Saks Fifth Avenue credit (which you can use to buy anything at Saks, either in-store or online), you’ll be scoring up to $500 worth of annual credits for a card that costs $695 a year. And there are even more credit opportunities if you find them useful.

Speaking of those credits, the Uber credit can also be used on Uber Eats purchases, which means you can still take advantage of them even if you don’t use ride-share services. Same goes for the Saks Fifth Avenue credit, which can be used on anything you buy at Saks’ online website.

The cherry on top is the 80,000-point welcome bonus on the Amex Platinum after you spend $6,000 on the card in your first six months, which at the very least you should be able to redeem for a pair of domestic airline tickets for you and a companion, or even a trip to Europe in coach for yourself.

What could be better: Surprisingly, the Amex Platinum isn’t a terrific card when it comes to earning points. It’s a great choice when you’re booking airline tickets, since you’ll earn an impressive 5 points for every dollar you spend directly with airlines. But to earn 5 points per dollar at hotels, you’ll need to book only prepaid hotels, and only through Amex Travel. For such an expensive card, those aren’t exceptional bonus categories.

The credits on the Amex Platinum can also be a challenge to maximize. Unlike travel credits on cards such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve, the up-to-$200 airline incidental fee credit is only good on the one airline you choose each year, and then only for certain fees like checked baggage or in-cabin pet fees.

The up-to-$200 annual Uber credit doesn’t come as one big credit, but instead as a monthly series of $15 credits, with an extra $20 in December for $200 in total. Even the Saks Fifth Avenue credit is split in two, with $50 available in the first six months of the calendar year and the other $50 in the second half.

In the end, the Amex Platinum isn’t really designed for everyday use. Rather, you need to be a regular traveler with a desire to be treated better during those long days on the road for the cost of the card to make sense in the long term.

Where it beats our benchmark card: Luxury travel perks and travel credits, airline and hotel bonus categories, solid travel protections, extensive airline and hotel partners, and welcome bonus.

Where our benchmark card is better: The Citi Double Cash has no annual fee, an introductory rate on balance transfers and easy cash back.

Read CNN Underscored’s American Express Platinum card review.
Learn more about the American Express Platinum.

Why it’s great in one sentence: If you even occasionally fly Delta, the Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express Card is an easy win — taking advantage of its first checked bag free benefit for you and up to eight companions on just one round-trip a year easily offsets its $99 annual fee, and it even comes with a $0 introductory fee for the first year (see rates and fees).

This card is right for: People who want to avoid paying checked bag fees on Delta while also getting priority boarding and other basic Delta perks.

Highlights:

Welcome bonus: Earn 40,000 bonus miles when you spend $2,000 in purchases in your first six months after opening the account.

What we like about the Delta Gold Amex: Of all the airline credit cards, the Delta Gold Amex makes it onto our best travel credit cards list, thanks primarily to its very generous free checked bag perk. Not only will you get a free checked bag on all Delta flights with this card (which normally costs $30 in each direction), but so will up to eight companions on the same reservation. A family of four could save as much as $240 on a single round-trip if everyone has a bag to check, more than double the $99 annual fee that starts with the second year you have the card.

Everyone in your reservation also gets priority boarding, meaning you’ll be in the first Main Cabin group to get on the plane, giving you a better shot at finding overhead space for your carry-ons, and using the Delta Gold Amex on in-flight purchases gets you 20% back on staples like food, beverages and headsets (though not Wi-Fi). Also, if you manage to put $10,000 in purchases on this card in a calendar year, you’ll receive a $100 Delta flight credit that you can redeem for any Delta flight, which is a nice added perk.

What could be better: While Delta flyers can get decent value from the perks on the Delta Gold Amex, you probably won’t want to use it as your everyday spending card. Frequent flyer website The Points Guy values Delta SkyMiles at 1.41 cents each as of December 2022, which means you’re earning a decent 2.82% return on the card’s bonus categories, but only a 1.41% return on everything else.

You’d be better off putting your daily purchases on our benchmark Citi Double Cash card and getting 2% cash back on everything — 1% when you buy it, and another 1% when you pay it off — and utilizing other credit cards with stronger bonus categories or more flexible travel rewards when you can.

Also, if you’re a heavy Delta flyer with elite status, you already have the perks that come with this card, so you’d be better off with a higher-level Delta card such as the Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card or Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card, both of which come with higher annual fees, but also additional benefits that can make your Delta trip easier and help you earn elite status faster.

Where it beats our benchmark card: Welcome bonus and travel perks on Delta.

Where our benchmark card is better: The Citi Double Cash has no annual fee, an introductory rate on balance transfers and easy cash back.

Read CNN Underscored’s Delta Gold Amex credit card review.
Learn more about the Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express card.

Why it’s great in one sentence: The World of Hyatt Credit Card features a solid set of bonus categories and earns points in the most valuable hotel loyalty program around while at the same time offering complimentary Hyatt Discoverist elite status and the ability to earn even higher levels of elite status.

This card is right for: People who routinely stay at Hyatt hotels, and especially those chasing Hyatt elite status.

Highlights:

Sign-up bonus: Earn up to 60,000 bonus points — 30,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first three months after opening the account, plus 2 bonus points for every dollar you spend on purchases that earn 1 bonus point, up to $15,000 in the first six months after opening the account.

What we like about the World of Hyatt Credit Card: Hyatt’s loyalty program remains by far the best of all the major hotel chains, which makes the World of Hyatt Credit Card our pick for the one hotel credit card to include on our best travel credit cards list.

You can earn boatloads of Hyatt points with this card and still get great value when redeeming Hyatt rewards, including stays at top-notch properties like the Park Hyatt New York or at the Hyatt Ziva and Hyatt Zilara all-inclusive resorts.

You’ll also get automatic Hyatt Discoverist elite status just from having the card, which is the chain’s lowest-level elite status, but still gets you perks such as 10% bonus points on your Hyatt stays, elite check-in, premium internet and a late 2 p.m. checkout where available. And the Hyatt card can put you on a path to higher-level Explorist or Globalist elite status — card holders get 5 elite night credits every year just from having the card.

But the icing on the cake starts one year after you first open the card — you’ll receive a free night at any Category 1-4 Hyatt property every year at your card anniversary when you pay the new year’s annual fee. Using that free night at even a mid-level property can easily offset the card’s $95 annual fee.

What could be better: While the bonus categories on the World of Hyatt Credit Card are useful, it’s important to remember that Chase’s Ultimate Rewards program includes Hyatt as a transfer partner, meaning that points you earn with cards such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve can be turned into Hyatt points as well as other airline or hotel points, making them more flexible than just regular Hyatt points.

So if you have a card like the Sapphire Reserve, you’ll do better using it on some purchases instead of the Hyatt card. For instance, you’ll earn at least 3 points per dollar on dining with either the Preferred or the Reserve versus just 2 points with the Hyatt card (and you’ll have more options when it comes to redeeming Chase points).

The other major downside is that Hyatt is a much smaller chain than the big players such as Hilton and Marriott, which can make it difficult to find a convenient Hyatt hotel in some smaller cities. However, the chain has made promising attempts to improve this situation in recent years by partnering with other hotel groups such as Small Luxury Hotels of the World, allowing you to use Hyatt points at a greater variety of properties.

Hyatt’s award chart also includes peak and off-peak redemption rates, which means properties are more expensive to redeem points for during high-demand times (though also cheaper in low-demand periods).

Where it beats our benchmark card: Sign-up bonus, decent bonus categories and travel perks at Hyatt.

Where our benchmark card is better: The Citi Double Cash has no annual fee, an introductory rate on balance transfers and easy cash back.

Learn more and apply now for the World of Hyatt Credit Card.

Why it’s great in one sentence: You’ll earn 2 Capital One miles per dollar on every purchase with the Capital One Venture Credit Card, and you can redeem those miles for any travel purchase you make at 1 cent per mile, or transfer them to Capital One’s airline partners for potentially even more valuable redemptions.

This card is right for: People who want to travel for free, using easily redeemable miles, but with the option to learn how to master transferable miles down the line for even greater value.

Highlights:

Sign-up bonus: Earn 75,000 bonus miles when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months after opening the account.

What we like about the Capital One Venture: Some people want easy-to-redeem travel rewards. Others don’t mind more complicated redemptions that can increase the value of their miles. The Capital One Venture card gives you the best of both worlds.

For folks who don’t want to deal with complex charts or award availability, you can use the Venture’s “Purchase Eraser” feature. It uses miles you’ve accumulated to pay off any travel purchases that you make with the card at a rate of 1 cent per mile, making the 75,000-mile sign-up bonus worth at least $750 in travel.

For others who want to put in the time and research to find first- or business-class flight redemptions when travel returns, Capital One’s 18 airline transfer partners provide another option. You can now transfer miles to most of those partners at a 1-to-1 ratio, which means you’ll get 1,000 points or miles in the airline or hotel program for every 1,000 Capital One miles you transfer.

What could be better: There’s only one bonus category on the Capital One Venture — you’ll earn 5 miles per dollar on hotels or car rentals, but only when you book them through Capital One Travel. Unfortunately, you likely won’t get elite credit or have your elite benefits honored when booking a hotel through a travel portal instead of directly with the hotel. It also doesn’t have trip cancellation or interruption coverage, which is somewhat unusual for a travel credit card.

If you’re only planning to redeem your miles using the “Purchase Eraser,” you could be better off with our benchmark Citi Double Cash card, which earns 2% cash back on everything — 1% when you make a purchase, 1% when you pay it off — since you’ll be effectively earning 2 cents in rewards for every dollar you spend either way, but the Venture card has a $95 annual fee.

Capital One points don’t transfer directly to any US-based airline’s, but advanced card holders will be able to leverage international airline alliances to score domestic redemptions. So if you think you’ll mix in some airline transfers, even down the line, the Venture card serves as a great beginner gateway to the world of transferable points.

Where it beats our benchmark card: Sign-up bonus, purchase protections and travel protections.

Where our benchmark card is better: The Citi Double Cash has no annual fee and an introductory rate on balance transfers.

Read CNN Underscored’s Capital One Venture credit card review.
Learn more about the Capital One Venture credit card.

Frequently asked questions about travel credit cards

Not everyone is familiar with how and when to use a travel credit card, so we’ve assembled some of the more common questions and answers.

Credit cards typically fall within two distinct categories: Cash back and travel rewards. For credit cards that are categorized in the latter bucket, this means you’re earning points or miles toward travel — allowing you and your family to go on vacation for less. Every travel rewards credit card is also aligned with a specific program. Some are tied to a particular airline or hotel, while others are part of a transferable rewards program.

When you’re earning rewards tied to a particular airline or hotel, your points can typically only be used for that specific program. For example, if you have a Marriott credit card, you’ll be earning points in Marriott’s Bonvoy program. And while there are opportunities to transfer those points to partner programs, it’s typically not the best way to use Marriott points.

On the other hand, transferable rewards programs are run by credit card issuers, such as Chase, American Express, Capital One and Citi. When earning points in these programs, you’re not tied to just one airline or hotel, but can instead transfer your points to a dozen or more airline or hotel partners, which vary depending on the program. Additionally, some programs allow you to use your points or miles to book any travel through their own travel portal, or to wipe away travel purchases — all at a fixed rate for each point or mile.

Before you apply for a travel rewards credit card, you’ll first want to determine the type of points or miles you’re looking to earn — airline-specific, hotel-specific or those offering some sort of flexibility. That will help you narrow down which type of credit card to look for. Each credit card also earns a different number of points on every purchase you make, which is something to consider based on how you spend money. But remember, not all points are created equal, so you’ll want to look at the difference in value between programs.

Beyond the points you’re earning from your travel credit card, there are other features to consider. If you’re a frequent traveler trying to earn elite status, many travel credit cards — tied to both airline and hotel programs — offer opportunities to earn elite status within a program just from using the card. This is a great way to boost your status level and earn extra benefits while traveling.

For those opting for an airline-specific travel credit card, additional features to consider include waived checked baggage fees, priority boarding, lounge access and companion certificates. On the hotel front, many travel credit cards include free night certificates and even automatic elite status.

Other features to look for include Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credits, CLEAR credits and statement credits to offset your annual fee. You’ll also want to look at the travel protection and purchase protection benefits on your travel credit card.

If you’re looking for a way to save on future travel, then a travel credit card is one of the best ways to accrue points or miles. Whether you need a hotel near grandma’s house or to embark on that once-in-a-lifetime trip around the world, points and miles can easily help offset the cost — especially since many come with incredibly high sign-up bonuses.

Then, if you use your credit card on every purchase you make — and always pay your bill in full and on time — you’ll find that your points and miles will add up quickly, and you’ll soon be on your way to your next vacation without spending a fortune.

Click here for rates and fees of the American Express Gold card.
Click here for rates and fees of the American Express Platinum card.
Click here for rates and fees of the Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express card.

Want a credit card that covers you when you’re traveling? Check out CNN Underscored’s guide to the best credit cards with travel insurance protections.

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