The Quick Version
- For international travel, the card that matters is one with no foreign transaction fee — that alone removes a 1–3% surcharge ordinary cards add to every purchase made abroad or from a foreign website.
- The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Capital One Venture Rewards both drop that fee, both carry a $95 annual fee, and both earn travel rewards worth more than plain cash back.
- The Sapphire Preferred rewards category spenders — 5x through Chase Travel and 3x on dining; the Venture keeps it simple at a flat 2x miles on everything.
- Choosing local currency at the terminal and avoiding dynamic currency conversion saves more on a trip than the difference between most travel cards.
The best credit card for international travel is any card that charges no foreign transaction fee and still earns well on travel and dining. For most travelers that narrows to two: the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Capital One Venture Rewards. Both remove the surcharge that ordinary cards add to every purchase made abroad, both carry a $95 annual fee, and both earn rewards that are worth more than cash back when you redeem them for travel. This guide explains what that fee actually costs, how the two cards compare on the numbers, and which one fits the way you travel.
What a Foreign Transaction Fee Actually Costs
A foreign transaction fee is a surcharge your card issuer adds to any purchase billed in a currency other than U.S. dollars. Chase notes these fees typically run from one to three percent, and they apply to more than a counter overseas — they also hit online orders from merchants based outside the U.S., even when you place the order from your couch at home.
Capital One describes the same charge the same way: a percentage tacked onto each international transaction, separate from any reward you earn. The fee is small per swipe and easy to miss on a statement, which is exactly why it adds up. Charge $4,000 over a two-week trip on a card with a 3% fee and you have handed your bank $120 for nothing. Every card in this guide erases that line item entirely.
Two Cards That Cover Most Travelers
The Chase Sapphire Preferred charges no foreign transaction fees on purchases made outside the United States and earns 5x points through Chase Travel, 3x on dining, 2x on all other travel, and 1x on everything else, for a $95 annual fee. Its points are worth more than a cent apiece when you move them to airline and hotel partners rather than taking cash — our points valuations show the gap before you assume a redemption is a good one.
The Capital One Venture Rewards takes a simpler line: no foreign transaction fees and an unlimited 2x miles on every purchase, plus 5x on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel, also for a $95 annual fee. New cardholders can earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 in the first three months; confirm the current offer on Capital One’s site before applying, since welcome bonuses change.
| Sapphire Preferred | Venture Rewards | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual fee | $95 | $95 |
| Foreign transaction fee | None | None |
| Base earn rate | 1x points | 2x miles |
| Top categories | 5x Chase Travel, 3x dining | 5x Capital One Travel |
| Rewards style | Transfer to travel partners | Flat miles, simple redemptions |
A $4,000 Trip Abroad, Costed Out
Picture two weeks overseas: $1,500 on hotels, $1,000 on restaurants, and $1,500 on shops, transit, and everything else — $4,000 charged abroad. First, both cards save the same thing on fees: a card with a 3% foreign transaction fee would have charged $120 on that $4,000, and both of these charge nothing. That $120 is the floor of what a no-fee card is worth on a single trip.
Then the rewards stack on top. The flat-rate Venture earns 2x on all $4,000, or 8,000 miles. The Sapphire Preferred rewards the category mix instead — 3x on the $1,000 of dining and 2x on the rest — landing near 9,000 points if some of the lodging is booked through Chase Travel. The two finish close on this trip; the real spread shows up in how you redeem, not in the earn rate.
| Spending | Amount | Sapphire Preferred | Venture Rewards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dining | $1,000 | 3,000 pts (3x) | 2,000 mi (2x) |
| Hotels | $1,500 | 3,000 pts (2x) | 3,000 mi (2x) |
| Other | $1,500 | 3,000 pts (2x) | 3,000 mi (2x) |
| Fees avoided | — | $120 | $120 |
Which One Fits Your Travel
Pick the Sapphire Preferred if you eat out often, book through Chase Travel, and are willing to learn transfer partners to pull more than a cent per point out of your rewards. Pick the Venture if you would rather earn a flat 2x on everything and redeem miles against any travel charge without studying award charts. Both clear the bar that matters abroad — no foreign transaction fee — so the decision comes down to whether you want category bonuses or simplicity. We walk through that trade-off in detail in our Sapphire Preferred vs. Venture comparison, and if this is your first travel card, our guide to travel cards for beginners covers the basics first.
Two Habits That Save More Than the Card Does
A no-fee card removes the issuer’s surcharge, but the exchange rate is a separate fight you can lose at the terminal. When a foreign card reader asks whether to bill in U.S. dollars or the local currency, Chase advises choosing the local currency: picking dollars hands the merchant control of the conversion through dynamic currency conversion, and that rate is usually padded well past what your card network would have charged. The second habit is simpler — actually carry the no-fee card as your default abroad, including for foreign websites, instead of reaching for whatever card is on top of your wallet.
Frequently Asked Questions
The two are separate. Removing the fee strips out the issuer’s 1–3% surcharge, but the conversion itself is set by the card network at close to the market rate. Where you can still lose money is dynamic currency conversion at the terminal, so choose the local currency rather than U.S. dollars to keep the network’s rate.
Yes. Earning is unaffected by location. The Venture earns its flat 2x miles on purchases everywhere, and the Sapphire Preferred earns its usual category rates abroad, including 3x on dining overseas. The no-fee benefit and the rewards stack together.
It can. Chase notes the fee applies to purchases from merchants based outside the U.S., not only to in-person spending while traveling. If you regularly buy from overseas retailers, a no-fee card helps even when you never leave home.
On fees alone, only if you charge enough abroad. Avoiding a 3% fee on $4,000 of foreign spending saves $120, which already covers the $95 fee with room to spare — and that ignores the rewards and travel protections both cards add. If you rarely travel internationally, a no-annual-fee card that also waives foreign transaction fees may serve you better; the math here favors the $95 cards once your trips are regular.