So, which travel credit card is the best for 2025? Many of you are probably asking yourselves this question when planning a trip abroad. At home, you’re used to simply withdrawing money from the nearest ATM. But what about in another country? Exchange office or ATM? Cashless or cash? Girocard, Visacard, or Mastercard? There are many credit cards for travel, and each has its advantages and disadvantages. You first have to find a suitable credit card for you.

We started with the DKB Bank credit card over 8 years ago. And we still use this card today for our travels around the world and for our everyday lives. We appreciate the easy online banking and the service provided by this bank, so we still use this card. But there are other travel credit cards that we would like to introduce to you today. We also travel with several credit cards, not just one. How, why, and wherefore? You’ll find out all about that in this article.

• 1. Why do you actually need a travel credit card for your vacation?
• 2. What makes the ideal travel credit card for us?
• 3. The best travel credit cards for 2025
• 4. Why do I need more than just one travel credit card?
• 5. Storing your travel credit card
• 6. How high should the credit limit be?
• 7. Is a Visa credit card better than a Mastercard one?
• 8. What is a TAN procedure and why do I need it?
• 9. Security tips for using credit cards
• 10. Credit cards for travel – FAQ

1. Why do you actually need a travel credit card for your vacation?

Quite simply because you can’t just insert your Maestro card into an ATM to get money everywhere. It often simply doesn’t work, and cash withdrawals with a Maestro card are often associated with high fees. You should discuss this with your bank before your trip. Also, tell your bank that you’ll be abroad. It’s not uncommon for banks to block your card for security reasons because they detect too many transactions from abroad.

With a credit card, you’re simply much more flexible. It also makes no sense to bring a lot of cash from home and carry it with you. Something can always happen, and having a lot of cash in your pocket makes you a popular target for thieves. Once your cash is stolen, it’s gone. There’s really nothing you can do about it. However, if your credit card is misused, you have a good chance of getting a refund. But more on that later.

The longer your trip, the more money you’ll need. And instead of constantly getting cash from a bank or exchange office, you can simply withdraw cash from any ATM or pay directly on site (worldwide) with your travel credit card.

2. What makes an optimal travel credit card for us?

At first, the topic of optimal travel credit cards wasn’t that easy to understand for us either. We had to slog through many pages of fine print to get all the important information. How high are the fees for withdrawing money abroad? Do I need a checking account with the credit card? Does my bank charge fees if I pay with the credit card abroad? Does my bank charge an annual fee for using the travel credit card? Questions upon questions, which we want to answer for you in the following article.

2.1. Is the credit card free or are there fees?

It’s important to us that a credit card for travel doesn’t incur any annual or monthly costs. So be sure to check whether your bank charges an account management fee for the account and credit card. Since you certainly don’t travel around the clock and therefore don’t need your credit card on a regular basis, it would be a shame if you still had to pay fees.

For example, the classic checking account at Sparkasse still costs €4.95 per month, and the credit card is available starting at an additional €36 per year. The Commerzbank checking account costs €6.90 per month including a Mastercard Debit, while the Deutsche Bank debit card costs €18 per year starting from the second year. If you’d like to avoid these fees, take a closer look at our recommendations in the following article.

2.2 How high are the fees for withdrawing money abroad?

Another important question we asked ourselves at the time: Are there fees for withdrawing money at home and abroad? If so, how high are they? We always made sure that we could withdraw money worldwide for free with our travel credit card. However, it can happen that the local bank abroad charges fees because you want to withdraw money with a “foreign credit card.” These are called foreign fees, which your own bank unfortunately can’t do anything about.

So if you withdraw money from a foreign ATM with your travel credit card, you may have to pay a certain amount X in fees. The amount ultimately depends on the ATM and the country. For example, in Thailand, we had to pay €5 every time, regardless of how much money we withdrew. In other countries, we didn’t have to pay anything at all. We also use our credit card in everyday life, but here in Germany we don’t pay any fees, regardless of which ATM we withdraw money from.

Until 2016, we were able to have these fees reimbursed by our bank (DKB). All we had to do was send them a list of all transactions that incurred an ATM fee. These fees were then promptly and easily reimbursed. Unfortunately, they discontinued this additional service, which is why this credit card was no longer attractive to many people. You’ll find out below why we’re still big fans of DKB.

2.3 Caution: Cost Trap for Conversion

Some ATM operators offer immediate conversion into euros (DCC = Dynamic Currency Conversion). You usually have to dig deep into your pockets for this service offered by ATM operators and retailers. The exchange rate is then usually significantly worse for you than if you were billed in the local currency. Therefore, always select the “Billing in Local Currency” option at the ATM to avoid these additional costs.

2.4 Is using the card free of charge at home and abroad?

Another important criterion for us was and is that a travel credit card can be used free of charge worldwide. After all, we don’t just use a credit card to withdraw cash; we also book a flight, a hotel, a rental car, or pay locally with the card (e.g., in a restaurant). The so-called “use abroad” should therefore be largely free of charge. Should fees be incurred, they are usually calculated as a percentage of the credit card turnover (usually 1% to 3%).

2.5 Which TAN procedure is recommended for travel?

With online banking, you need a specific PIN number for each transaction, which can only be used once. Since we use our credit card constantly, the right TAN procedure is also very important to us. We used to always have endless TAN numbers on paper, which was anything but practical for our travels. A little later, we both switched to SMS TAN and chip TAN. Today, we favor and use the push TAN process. As you can see, there are various options, which we will explain in more detail below.

2.5 What additional services does the travel credit card offer?

When choosing a travel credit card, also look at the additional services. Some banks offer various insurance packages, such as travel cancellation insurance, international health insurance, or even rental car insurance. We didn’t pay attention to this at the time, as we were already well covered.

2.6. How good and reliable is the customer service?

It is extremely important to us that we can reach our bank easily and at any time. This is especially important when things need to happen quickly. We’ve lost more than one credit card on our travels and have also been victims of credit card fraud. In all of these cases, we were more than satisfied with the customer service of our main bank (DKB). More on that later.

3. The best travel credit cards for 2025

Now let’s get to the most important question: Which is the best travel credit card for a trip around the world or a vacation abroad? This question isn’t so easy to answer, of course. Ultimately, what matters is that you get along well with the card and the account. However, we’ll introduce you to a few credit cards that we can definitely recommend.

3.1 Test Winner: GenialCard from Hanseatic Bank

The Santander 1 Plus Visa Card was the absolute leader among travel credit cards back then, but unfortunately, that’s changed. Now the GenialCard from Hanseatic Bank* is joining the fray. With this permanently fee-free credit card, you can withdraw cash free of charge at ATMs worldwide. Should fees still be charged by the ATM operator, unfortunately, Hanseatic Bank has no influence over this. We mainly use this card to deposit the deposit when picking up a rental car. It usually doesn’t work with debit cards.

You can also decide whether you want to pay your credit card bill monthly in installments or in full immediately. Contractual interest is charged on partial payments (nominal interest rate: 12.82%). Therefore, it’s best to avoid partial payments. Another advantage is that you can easily link your existing account with this Hanseatic Bank credit card without having to open a new checking account. Furthermore, account management is permanently free of charge.

• No annual fee
• No checking account required at the bank
• Pay worldwide free of charge
• Withdraw cash worldwide free of charge
• Flexible installment payments possible
• Unfortunately, the credit limit cannot be increased through transfers

3.2 Our favorite: The DKB debit and credit card

Important update in advance: The DKB credit card has now been replaced with a Visa debit card. You can also use this debit card to book your rental car or a hotel. If you want to keep your Visa credit card(s), you’ll pay €2.49 per month in the future. Another new feature is that the Girocard (if you need it) costs €0.99 per month for new customers. It remains free for existing customers.

We’ve been traveling with the DKB credit and debit card* for over 8 years now. The card is linked to a corresponding checking account. Online banking is simple and well-structured. Today, we have several accounts and credit cards with DKB – for personal and business use. And even though the bank unfortunately no longer reimburses foreign currency fees charged by ATM operators abroad, the card is still great for us! Besides, not everything has to be completely free, right? Unfortunately, we’re far too spoiled these days!

Active customer or passive customer?

It’s important to note that customers with a monthly income of at least €700 receive better conditions. This means that so-called “active customers” can withdraw money and make payments worldwide free of charge, and there are no fees for card payments either. Customers who cannot demonstrate a monthly income of at least €700 pay a fee of 2.20% of the transaction for withdrawals and card payments outside of Europe. Important: At ATMs, a minimum of €50 must always be withdrawn to avoid fees.

DKB Bank offers both chipTAN (a separate device-based TAN generator) and pushTAN (a smartphone TAN via an app). We use the app and are extremely satisfied with it. However, you always need a working internet connection to receive your TAN number via the app. It’s also cool that you can temporarily block your card(s) via the app and now also release TAN numbers using your fingerprint (Card Control function). We’d also like to mention that DKB’s customer service is truly top-notch, whether you call or send an email.

DKB Debit Card

• Free standard card for the account
• Debit is made immediately after payment
• As an active customer, pay worldwide free of charge
• and withdraw money worldwide free of charge
• Passive customers pay 2.20% fees
• Set up a desired PIN

DKB Credit Card

• €2.49 monthly
• A DKB checking account is required
• Debit once a month
• Pay worldwide free of charge
• Withdraw money worldwide free of charge
• Free emergency package

3.3 Barclays Visacard

For a long time, the Visa card from Barclays Very popular with travelers. It’s still completely free; you can make payments and withdraw money worldwide without fees. These are already very good prerequisites for a suitable travel credit card. If fees are charged at an ATM abroad, you’ll unfortunately have to accept them, just like with any other card. What’s also really cool is that you don’t have to open a new checking account, but can use your existing one for billing.

You have the option of paying your credit card expenses in installments, but this does incur costs (interest: 16.99%). To avoid these costs, you should always pay your transactions in full within a given time period. You can increase your credit card limit by simply transferring an amount X to your credit card account in advance. We always do this with DKB if we ever have to pay a larger sum (or for rental car deposits).

• No annual fee
• No checking account required at the bank
• Fee-free payments worldwide
• Fee-free withdrawals worldwide
• Flexible installment payments possible

3.4 N26 Mastercard

The safest credit card ever for us! Unfortunately, using the card isn’t completely free, but the card offers ingenious security features that should be worth a small fee to everyone. The N26 is currently the best Mastercard debit card* and perfectly complements a free Visa card. The N26 Standard is free, but only allows three fee-free withdrawals per month in Germany. The N26 You Account (€9.90 per month) is better, allowing you to withdraw up to five fees per month in Germany and free foreign currency withdrawals at ATMs outside of Germany.

With the accompanying app, you can temporarily block the card, restrict it to online transactions or foreign transactions, and arbitrarily change the PIN! So even if fraudsters steal and copy the card data, it’s of little use to them, as you can immediately block the card and change the PIN after each withdrawal. We use these features very often, especially at ATMs that aren’t located in a bank. Why? You can read more about this in the sister article Security Tips for Credit Cards. This Mastercard is ideal as an “emergency credit card” alongside one of the Visa cards.

Attention: The N26 travel credit card is a so-called debit card. Transactions are immediately debited from the associated checking account. In this sense, it’s not a true “credit” card (since the credit isn’t available until the next credit card statement). Debit cards are still not accepted by all car rental companies! Therefore, we only recommend the N26 card as a secondary card alongside one of our other recommended credit cards. All transactions are managed directly in the app; TANs are not required.

Even applying for the travel credit card at N26 is taking its time. Filling out the application on the website only takes a few minutes. You’ll then receive an email with access to the N26 app. To confirm your identity, there’s no need to run to the post office; this can also be done easily via the app. With identity verification, the process takes less than 15 minutes. After that, all you have to do is wait for the mail.

• N26 Standard free, N26 YOU from €9.90 per month
• Pay worldwide free of charge
• Withdraw money abroad free of charge with N26 YOU
• Limited number of withdrawals within Germany
• Deposit and withdraw cash via CASH26
• 100% mobile banking
• Change PIN and block card at any time
• A real credit card costs a one-time fee of €10

3.5 Other providers

Our readers have also recommended the following cards/providers:

• Revolut (prepaid MasterCard)
• TransferWise (provider for international transfers)
• Advanzia (fee-free Mastercard Gold)
• American Express (we also have American Express; report on that follows)

4. Why do I need more than one travel credit card?

What do you do if you’re standing at an ATM and it doesn’t accept your credit card? What if your card is lost or stolen? Then you’re left with no money. This is precisely why you should always carry at least two cards with you. You wouldn’t believe how many credit cards we’ve lost or had to cancel. Luckily, we always had plenty of alternatives with us.

If your card is stolen, you have to cancel it. From then on, you can no longer use it. The same thing happens if your card is swallowed by the ATM or you simply lose it. It can also happen that an ATM doesn’t accept your Visa, but does accept your Mastercard. That’s what happened to us in Bali. The ATMs had problems with Visa for a few days. Luckily, we were able to withdraw money with the Mastercard without any problems.

As you can see, there are several reasons why you shouldn’t travel with just one travel credit card. And we speak from many years of experience.

5. Storing Your Travel Credit Card

We can tell you how important it is to keep your travel credit cards safe. When you’re traveling, you should store your travel credit cards either in your belt pouch*, backpack, or wallet. It’s not uncommon for luggage to disappear during transport. For this reason, you should always keep your money and cards with you. This also applies to your valuables.

You can lock your credit cards and valuables in a safe (if there is one). If the worst case scenario does occur and all your cards are lost, the only option is to block them immediately. And you should really hurry and call your bank immediately. This is the only way to prevent fraudulent use of your credit cards. So: Always have your bank’s emergency number with you!

If your accommodation doesn’t have a safe, you can always use a Pacsafe*. You can safely store your valuables there. It’s a type of portable safe with stainless steel wire mesh and a combination lock. We haven’t had any experience with it ourselves, but we’ve heard a lot of positive things about it.

6. How high should the credit limit be?

Better too low than too high! When you apply for a credit card, a low limit is often set, and you should keep it that way. We recommend setting a credit card limit no higher than €500, even if you occasionally charge the card more than €500 a month. Why? In the case of card fraud, the entire credit limit is usually used.

So if you have set the limit at €2,000, you will very likely be robbed of this amount in the event of card fraud. You will get the money back from the bank (see previous chapter), but this usually takes a few weeks. You will have to live with the loss until then.

If a credit limit of €500/month is not sufficient for you, you can increase it with credit card transfers if necessary. If the card has already been debited, you can repay it or even top it up at any time with a transfer. This way, you can easily charge the card with more than €500.

Example: You want to pay for flights worth €800. Therefore, you don’t automatically need a €1,000 credit limit. You can increase your limit to the corresponding €800 with a €300 transfer (€300 credit + €500 credit limit = €800 available).

7. Is a Visa credit card better than a Mastercard one?

There are no significant differences anymore. Both credit card providers offer their customers more than 36 million acceptance points in over 200 countries. All applicable fees are charged by the issuing bank, so neither card is cheaper overall.

Although banks work more frequently with Visa, that doesn’t mean a Mastercard is worse. So don’t worry about the provider; simply choose the best travel credit card for you, the one whose terms and services best suit you.

8. What is a TAN procedure and why do I need it?

The so-called TAN procedure is used in online banking. The TAN (short for Transaction Number) is a random code made up of numbers and letters that is required for every transaction with the bank (e.g., transfers to your travel credit card).

It’s essentially a “PIN” for online activities. The difference is that this number is only used for a single transaction and then expires. Therefore, new TANs are always needed. At the time, 100 such TANs were on a TAN list. However, the EU considers this list insecure, which is why other solutions have been considered. And so the following TAN procedures were created:

• chipTAN: a device into which the card must be inserted displays the code after a scanned image
• smsTAN: an SMS from the bank contains the TAN
• pushTAN: an app that displays the code
• photoTAN: displays the TAN after scanning a barcode (QR code)

Before applying for a travel credit card, pay attention to the TAN variants offered. Anyone who wants to use online banking or a credit card for vacation should choose a suitable TAN procedure. For example, we often only receive the smsTAN abroad with delays. However, the other procedures are also suitable for travelers. Every bank offers at least two different TAN procedures, so you can easily choose which one suits you best.

9. Security Tips for Using Credit Cards

You don’t want to worry about card misuse, especially not on vacation. But even here, the danger of being spied on and becoming a victim of card misuse lurks. We’ve written a comprehensive article for you explaining how card misuse actually works and how you can protect yourself: Security Tips for Credit Cards.

Many people still have a qualm about credit cards. They fear the card could be hacked and their account emptied. But it’s not that simple. In general, you can say that a credit card is even more secure than a conventional debit card. Unlike debit cards, every credit card has a limit. If the limit is reached (e.g., €500), the travel credit card cannot be charged any more.

Furthermore, the bank is liable (as with debit cards) in the event of misuse. This means: The bank will reimburse you for the damage, but a “deductible” may be charged. By law, this deductible cannot exceed €150. Some banks even charge no deductible and reimburse the entire damage.

10. Credit Cards for Travel – FAQ

Which is the best travel credit card on the market? Which credit card type is suitable for my trip? How high should the credit limit be on my travel credit card? How secure are travel credit cards? Who can apply for a travel credit card? What can I use a travel credit card for?