Travellers can select from a number of travel credit cards that offer a plethora of benefits and discounts. These cards also provide offers on air miles to encourage frequent flying cardholders. Travel credit cards offer customers various benefits such as welcome gifts, free access to some of the airport lounges, fuel surcharge waiver, and no liability in case of lost cards. Some travel credit cards offer other complimentary gifts like free movie tickets, discounts on dining and concierge services, etc. Here we have listed some of the best credit cards for domestic travel.
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Best Credit Cards for Domestic Travel in India 2024
Some of the best credit cards that will help you save on your domestic travel are listed in the table below:
Card Name | Annual Fee | Travel Benefits |
HDFC Regalia Gold Credit Card | Rs. 2,500 | Complimentary memberships, rewards and lounge visits |
Air India SBI Platinum Credit Card | Rs. 1,499 | Higher reward points and complimentary lounge access |
Axis Bank Vistara Signature Credit Card | Rs. 3,000 | Complimentary tickets, lounge access and CV Silver membership |
Standard Chartered EaseMyTrip Credit Card | Rs. 350 | Instant discount on travel bookings & complimentary lounge access |
MMT ICICI Signature Credit Card | Nil | Higher rewards, complimentary railway and airport lounge access |
Best Travel Credit Cards in India | Check Eligibility for Top Credit Cards | Benefits of Travel Credit Card
HDFC Regalia Gold Credit Card
Joining Fee: Rs. 2,500 | Annual Fee: Rs. 2,500 (Waived off on spending Rs. 4 lakh in a year)
Travel Benefits:
- Complimentary Club Vistara Silver & MMT Black Elite memberships
- 12 complimentary domestic lounge visits in a year
- Complimentary Priority Pass Membership on completing 4 retail transactions on the card
- Up to 6 complimentary international lounge visits per calendar year (primary + add-on member)
Other Benefits:
- Gift voucher worth Rs. 2,500 on the payment of joining fee
- 4 reward points per Rs. 150 spent across all categories including insurance, utilities and education
- 20 reward points per Rs. 150 spent at Nykaa, Myntra, Marks & Spencer and Reliance Digital
- Spend Rs. 1.5 lakh in a quarter and get Rs. 1,500 vouchers from Marks & Spencer, Reliance Digital, Myntra or Marriott
HDFC Regalia Gold Credit Card is one of the best credit cards for people who frequently travel domestically. With this card, you can get complimentary memberships, tickets, lounge visits and much more to save on your travel. Besides this, you will also be rewarded with additional flight tickets on reaching the spending milestone.
Overall, this HDFC Credit Card is the right option if your goal is to earn travel benefits along with decent rewards on other categories. This credit card is best suited if you are a high-spender and put most of your travel expenses on your credit card. This way, you can make the most out of the rewards program by redeeming the earned reward points against your travel bookings or Air Miles. Also, if you are someone who prefers to get travel vouchers instead of bonus rewards or cashback as a milestone benefit, you can definitely opt for this credit card.
Suggested read: Best Credit Cards in India | Check Eligibility for Top Cards
Air India SBI Platinum Credit Card
Joining Fee: Rs. 1,499 | Annual Fee: Rs. 1,499
Travel Benefits:
- 15 reward points for every Rs. 100 spent on Air India tickets booked via airindia.in and Air India mobile app for self and others
- 5 reward points for every Rs. 100 spent on Air India tickets for self or others, booked through Air India booking offices or Air India call centres
- 5 reward points for every Rs. 100 spent on SuperSaver booklet purchases
- 8 complimentary visits per year to domestic VISA lounges in India, subject to maximum 2 visits per quarter
Other Benefits:
- 5,000 reward points as a welcome gift on the payment of joining fee
- 2,000 reward points on completion of the anniversary year
- 2 reward points on every Rs. 100 spent
- Up to 10,000 reward points on achieving spending milestone
- 1% fuel surcharge waiver on transactions between Rs. 500 to Rs. 4,000
Air India SBI Platinum Credit Card is one of the best domestic travel credit cards in India, especially for Air India loyalists. This can be an ideal option if you want to avail decent rewards on your expenses and want to redeem them against future travel bookings or Air Miles. This credit card comes with a rewards rate of up to 6.75% on travel spends, which is great as compared to other travel-centric credit cards. However, the rewards rate of 0.90% on general spending, is not satisfactory as cards with a lower annual fee offer better rewards. This can be a great option if you want to avail decent travel benefits at a lower annual fee.
However, before applying for this card, remember that being a co-branded credit card, all the benefits are related only to Air India. You should consider applying for this card if you frequently travel and make bookings via Air India. If you are ready to pay a higher annual fee and want to avail better benefits, you can also apply for the other variant, i.e., Air India SBI Signature Credit Card. But, if you are not sure that you will stick to Air India for your travel bookings, then you can look for other travel credit cards available in the market.
Suggested read: Best SBI Credit Cards in India | Check Eligibility for Top Cards
Axis Vistara Signature Credit Card
Joining Fee: Rs. 3,000 | Annual Fee: Rs. 3,000
Travel Benefits:
- Vistara Premium Economy class ticket as a welcome benefit joining/renewal fee payment
- Up to 4 complimentary premium economy tickets on reaching spending milestones
- Complimentary Club Vistara Silver Membership
- Up to 8 complimentary lounge access to select airport lounges in India, 2 per quarter based on your spends
- Rewards can be redeemed for booking flights and other upgrades
Other Benefits:
- 4 Club Vistara (CV) points per Rs. 200 spent across all categories
- 25% off up to Rs. 800 on dining via EazyDiner, once per month
- 3 complimentary golf rounds in India at select golf courses
Axis Vistara Signature Credit Card is one of the best credit cards for domestic travel. This credit card is best suited for you if you frequently travel via Vistara Airlines. You can make the most out of this credit card if you spend more on your travel expenses as you will be able to enjoy the milestone benefits. With this card, you can earn up to 2% CV points on your expenses, which you can later redeem against future bookings or flight upgrades.
Besides these benefits, this credit card comes with complimentary Club Vistara Silver Membership, which allows you to earn better rewards and additional advantages on your bookings. Apart from travel, you can also avail other benefits like free golf rounds, dining discount and more. Overall, this can be a decent option if you are a Vistara loyalist as being a co-branded card, higher benefits are offered only on your bookings through Vistara Airlines. However, if you want to earn similar benefits with a lower annual fee, then you can also opt for Axis Vistara Credit Card. This is the base Vistara co-branded variant but offers similar benefits at an annual fee of Rs. 1,500.
Suggested read: Best Axis Bank Credit Cards in India | Check Eligibility for Top Cards
Standard Chartered EaseMyTrip Credit Card
Joining Fee: Rs. 350 | Annual Fee: Rs. 350 (Reversed on spending Rs. 50,000 in a year)
Travel Benefits:
- 20% instant discount on domestic and international hotel bookings
- 10% instant discount on domestic and international flight bookings
- 125 off on bus ticket bookings
- 10 reward points on every Rs. 100 spent at standalone airline/hotel websites, mobile applications or outlets, except any travel aggregators
- 1 complimentary domestic lounge visit per quarter
- 2 complimentary international lounge visits per year
Other Benefits:
- 2 reward points per Rs. 100 on all other retail spends
- Contactless transactions for up to Rs. 5,000
- Convert your purchases of Rs. 2,500 and above into EMIs
Standard Chartered EaseMyTrip Credit Card is a low annual fee credit card that is exclusively designed for people who frequently travel. You can apply for this domestic travel credit card if you are looking for an option to get an instant discount on your travel bookings through EaseMyTrip. With this card, you can get a direct discount of up to 20% on your flights or hotel bookings. One of the good things is you can avail annual fee waiver on spending Rs. 50,000 in a year, which is easily achievable if you frequently travel.
Besides this, you can also earn rewards on your travel bookings. This credit card is loaded with multiple travel benefits. Also, the overall value-back offered on this card is better as compared to other similar cards and there is no minimum transaction limit to avail these benefits. However, most of the benefits are restricted only to EaseMyTrip transactions. So, if you are someone who prefers to book via EaseMyTrip instead of other travel portals, then this Standard Chartered Credit Card can be an ideal option to save on your travel expenses.
Suggested read: Best Airport Lounge Access Credit Cards | Check Eligibility for Top Cards
MakeMyTrip ICICI Signature Credit Card
Joining Fee: Rs. 2,500 | Annual Fee: Nil
Travel Benefits:
- 1,500 as My Cash and MakeMyTrip holiday voucher worth Rs. 2,500 as welcome benefits
- Complimentary MMTBLACK Exclusive membership
- 2 My Cash per Rs. 200 spent on flight bookings via MakeMyTrip
- 4 My Cash per Rs. 200 spent on hotel/ holiday bookings via MakeMyTrip
- 1 complimentary railway lounge access in a quarter to participating lounges in India
- 2 complimentary domestic airport lounge access by spending Rs. 5,000 in the quarter
- 1 international lounge access and 1 spa session at selected airports in India through complimentary Dreamfolks membership
Other Benefits:
- 25 My Cash per Rs. 200 spent on domestic transactions outside MakeMyTrip
- 50 My Cash per Rs. 200 spent on international transactions outside MakeMyTrip
- Up to 4,000 My Cash each anniversary year on achieving spending milestone
- Complimentary 10-day international roaming pack on booking an international flight/ hotel
- 1% fuel surcharge waiver on your transactions of up to Rs. 4,000 at HPCL petrol pumps
MakeMyTrip ICICI Signature Credit Card is a co-branded credit card that offers the highest benefits on your transactions through MMT. You can earn My Cash every time you use your card and later redeem them against your future bookings. This credit card comes with a great reward structure and also offers decent welcome benefits. However, remember that the earned rewards are transferred to your MMT account, where 1 My Cash is equivalent to Re. 1, which is an additional advantage if you frequently travel and make bookings through MakeMyTrip.
Overall, this is a great option to save on your travel bookings, especially if you are a loyal customer of MMT. Besides travel benefits, this credit card has a very basic rewards structure and lets you save only on your fuel transactions at HPCL petrol pumps. You can consider this card as an option if you want a travel-centric credit card. However, if you feel that the annual fee of Rs. 2,500 is high for you, then you can opt for MMT ICICI Platinum Credit Card with a lower annual fee of Rs. 500 and similar benefits.
Suggested read: Best ICICI Credit Cards in India | Check Eligibility for Top Cards