What are the best vacation credit cards?

The best vacation credit card is the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, in large part because it offers 60,000 bonus points for spending $4,000 in the first 3 months. Cardholders also earn and it gives 1 - 5 points per $1 spent on purchases. Specifically, you’ll get 5 points per $1 spent on travel purchased through Chase, 2 points per $1 on all other travel purchases, 3 points per $1 on dining and online grocery purchases, 3 points per $1 on select streaming services, and 1 point per $1 on all other purchases.

Chase Sapphire Preferred is a Visa card, which means it’s accepted in 200+ countries and territories. It has a $0 foreign transaction fee, too.

Best Vacation Credit Cards

Ultimately, the key to picking the best vacation credit card is to consider what your biggest costs will be when taking your longest vacation in the near future. For example, if you know what hotel brand you will book rooms with, a credit card from that hotel chain may be your best bet. If you will spend a lot on flights, an airline card may be better. And if no one type of travel expense will be most common, you can get a generic travel card that rewards all kinds of travel. In any of these cases, the more frequently you travel, the more cards with large fees and equally large rewards will start to become worthwhile.

Things to Consider When Picking the Best Vacation Credit Cards

1. The types of travel you engage in: Many cards are co-branded with airlines, hotels, cruise lines, etc. If you use a certain travel provider frequently, a co-branded card can be well worth getting. Otherwise, there are plenty of generic travel cards that provide solid rewards on any type of travel.
2. Annual fees: If you travel only occasionally, you may want a card with a $0 annual fee. If you travel frequently, you may want to look into more expensive cards, as they tend to offer rewards and fees that far outweigh the cost of the annual fee for big spenders.
3. Sign-up bonuses: Many cards offer a lump sum of rewards for spending a certain amount of money in the first few months. Charging a vacation to the card can help you quickly earn this bonus and potentially get back hundreds of dollars.
4. Travel-related benefits: Vacation credit cards may provide perks like travel accident insurance, rental car insurance, lost luggage reimbursement and trip cancellation insurance. Other travel perks to look out for include airport lounge access, waived fees for TSA Pre-Check or Global Entry, and yearly travel credits.
5. How far out your vacation is: If you’re planning a trip more than a year in advance, for example, you may want to consider getting a card with cash back rewards that you can redeem regularly, which will leave you with more of your own money to use on travel later. With a points or miles card, stockpiling rewards long-term can be risky because the issuer can devalue the rewards at any time. For trips in the near future, points and miles cards can be a great option.
6. Foreign transaction fees: Most vacation credit cards have $0 foreign transaction fees. It’s still a good idea to double check if you plan to travel abroad, though.
7. Card acceptance: If you are vacationing abroad, Mastercard and Visa credit cards have the widest acceptance, though American Express and Discover are still usable in many places.
8. Credit score requirements: The best vacation credit cards tend to require good or excellent credit for approval, but there are options for people with lower credit scores as well. You can check your credit score for free on WalletHub.

Learn more about the best travel credit cards.