What Are the Best Travel Credit Cards in Germany? (2026)
The verdict for residents
Get the Eurowings Kreditkarte Premium at EUR 99 a year. Read the foreign-currency row before the miles row. A margin on non-euro spending is charged on every purchase abroad; a miles programme only pays if you fly often enough to redeem, and the annual fee is the hurdle it has to clear first. Germany has several credit cards that charge 0% worldwide at no annual fee, and that is the benchmark any paid travel card has to beat.
The checks and the limits
The premium tiers run the strictest checks in this market: a SCHUFA record with something in it and, on the American Express and bank-issued cards, proof of German income. The free cards at 0% ask for no payslip, but the SCHUFA decision still stands. Several of them start with a limit too small for a hire-car deposit, and card travel cover normally applies only to a trip you paid for with the card.
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Which credit card is the best for residents?
Sorted by annual fee, not our recommendation. The default view is our ranking, weights published below.
Sorted by effective apr, not our recommendation. The default view is our ranking, weights published below.
Also great
Advanzia Gebührenfrei Mastercard Gold
No annual fee in any year and 0% on foreign-currency spending, the strongest combination on a German file
Get the Advanzia Gebührenfrei Mastercard Gold- Annual feeBest
- Free
- Effective APR
- 20.9%
- Cost abroad
- No FX fee
- German IBAN
German IBAN
Whether the product needs a bank account with a German (DE) IBAN. Foreign-IBAN accounts are legal to use, but some German employers and billers still refuse them.
- Not required
More details
- Network
Network
The card scheme that moves the payment: Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. It decides where the card is accepted, not who issues it.
- Mastercard
Fees as of August 2026, verify on the issuer's price list.
Key information
- Annual fee
- No annual fee
- Abroad
- No fee on non-euro spending
- Cash
- Free cash withdrawals
Best for frequent travellers who need a different issuer.
Best value
TF Bank Mastercard Gold
No annual fee in any year and 0% on foreign-currency spending, the strongest combination on a German file
Get the TF Bank card- Annual feeBest
- Free
- Effective APR
- 22.9%
- Cost abroad
- No FX fee
- German IBAN
German IBAN
Whether the product needs a bank account with a German (DE) IBAN. Foreign-IBAN accounts are legal to use, but some German employers and billers still refuse them.
- Not required
More details
- Network
Network
The card scheme that moves the payment: Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. It decides where the card is accepted, not who issues it.
- Mastercard
Fees as of August 2026, verify on the issuer's price list.
Key information
- Annual fee
- No annual fee
- Abroad
- No fee on non-euro spending
- Cash
- Free cash withdrawals
Best for frequent travellers who need a different issuer.
Bank Norwegian Visa
No annual fee in any year and 0% on foreign-currency spending, the strongest combination on a German file
Get the Bank Norwegian card- Annual feeBest
- Free
- Effective APR
- 24.4%
- Cost abroad
- No FX fee
- German IBAN
German IBAN
Whether the product needs a bank account with a German (DE) IBAN. Foreign-IBAN accounts are legal to use, but some German employers and billers still refuse them.
- Not required
More details
- Network
Network
The card scheme that moves the payment: Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. It decides where the card is accepted, not who issues it.
- Visa
Fees as of August 2026, verify on the issuer's price list.
Key information
- Annual fee
- No annual fee
- Abroad
- No fee on non-euro spending
- Cash
- Free cash withdrawals
Best for frequent travellers who need a different issuer.
Hanseatic Bank GoldCard
EUR 58.8 a year with 0% on foreign-currency spending on a resident's everyday and holiday spending
Get the Hanseatic Bank cardCards(4)
- Hanseatic Bank GenialCardFree
Repayment rate you set in the app
Effective APR 16.05% Cost abroad No FX fee Network Visa German IBAN Not required - No annual fee
- German-only support
- Our pick here. Hanseatic Bank GoldCardEUR 58.80/yr
Insured, free in year one
Effective APR 16.05% Cost abroad No FX fee Network Visa German IBAN Not required - No fee on non-euro spending
- Free in year one, then EUR 58.80
Show 2 more products
- awa7 VisaFree
The same card under an eco brand
Effective APR 21.96% Cost abroad No FX fee Network Visa German IBAN Not required - No annual fee
- German-only support
- Deutschland-Kreditkarte ClassicFree
A Finanztip-listed GenialCard twin
Effective APR 21.04% Cost abroad No FX fee Network Visa German IBAN Not required - No annual fee
- German-only support
Fees as of August 2026, verify on the issuer's price list.
Key information
- Effective APR
- 16.05%
More details
- Annual fee
- EUR 58.80/yr
- Cost abroad
- No FX fee
- German IBAN
German IBAN
Whether the product needs a bank account with a German (DE) IBAN. Foreign-IBAN accounts are legal to use, but some German employers and billers still refuse them.
- Not required
- Network
Network
The card scheme that moves the payment: Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. It decides where the card is accepted, not who issues it.
- Visa
Best for frequent travellers who need a different issuer.
Hilton Honors Kreditkarte
EUR 72 a year with 0% on foreign-currency spending on a resident's everyday and holiday spending
Get the Hilton Honors Kreditkarte- Annual fee
- EUR 72.00/yr
- Effective APR
- n/a
- Cost abroad
- No FX fee
- German IBAN
German IBAN
Whether the product needs a bank account with a German (DE) IBAN. Foreign-IBAN accounts are legal to use, but some German employers and billers still refuse them.
- Not required
More details
- Network
Network
The card scheme that moves the payment: Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. It decides where the card is accepted, not who issues it.
- Visa
Fees as of August 2026, verify on the issuer's price list.
Key information
- Annual fee
- Annual fee EUR 72
- Abroad
- No fee on non-euro spending
- Cash
- Free cash withdrawals
Best for frequent travellers who need a different issuer.
Consors Finanz Mastercard
No annual fee in any year and 0% on foreign-currency spending, the strongest combination on a German file
Get the Consors Finanz card- Annual feeBest
- Free
- Effective APR
- n/a
- Cost abroad
- No FX fee
- German IBAN
German IBAN
Whether the product needs a bank account with a German (DE) IBAN. Foreign-IBAN accounts are legal to use, but some German employers and billers still refuse them.
- Not required
More details
- Network
Network
The card scheme that moves the payment: Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. It decides where the card is accepted, not who issues it.
- Mastercard
Fees as of August 2026, verify on the issuer's price list.
Key information
- Annual fee
- No annual fee
- Abroad
- No fee on non-euro spending
- Support
- German-only support
Best for frequent travellers who need a different issuer.
Also a strong fit
Compare two providers
Already down to two? Each comparison declares a winner on every criterion that decides the purchase.
Ranked by: Foreign-currency cost first, because it is charged on every purchase abroad rather than once a year, then miles, lounge access and bundled travel cover, then the annual fee. Every figure is read from the card's own record.
What is ruled out, and why
A blocker is not a drawback. It is something that makes the card unobtainable for this reader, however good its terms are otherwise.
Blocked for this reader
What do you need to get a travel card?
The premium tiers run the strictest checks in this market: a SCHUFA record with something in it, and, on the American Express and bank-issued cards, proof of German income. The free cards at 0% ask for no payslip, but the SCHUFA decision still stands between you and the card.
One practical detail worth settling before a trip: several of the free cards start with a low limit, and issuer records carry complaints about limits too small for a hire-car deposit. Check the limit you were actually granted, not the one the marketing page mentions, and check whether the insurance package requires the trip to be paid on the card.
Every card we compared
View all 48 cardsThe full market overview: every card from every issuer with its annual fee, APR and cost abroad, filterable and re-rankable.How we compared these
Five criteria, weighted for this reader and published above, fixed before the fees were collected. Every fee comes from the issuer's own price list, dated in the catalogue. Of the 48 cards, 34 are obtainable by residents.
Sources: the issuers' own German price lists, accessed 18 August 2026. Some links earn a commission at the same rate for every issuer, so no weighting favours a payer.
Frequently asked questions
Do air miles expire in Germany?
Miles & More miles do not expire while you hold one of its credit cards, which is the main reason to hold one. Card-earned miles otherwise follow the programme's rules rather than the card's, so read the programme terms before you count on a balance.
Is the travel insurance on a credit card enough?
It depends on what is in the package and how you paid. Cover is usually conditional on paying for the trip with the card, deductibles apply, and the packages differ: some include foreign health cover and trip cancellation but no rental-car cover at all. Read the insurer's certificate, and for a long stay use a standalone policy instead.
What does the foreign-currency fee actually cost?
It is a percentage of every non-euro purchase, so it scales with what you spend abroad rather than with how often you fly. On EUR 2,000 of non-euro spending a year, a 2% margin is EUR 40, before anything you pay to withdraw cash. A card at 0% removes that line entirely, and in Germany several of those cost nothing to hold.
Is a Debitkarte enough for travel?
For paying, often yes, and the German fintech cards charge nothing on foreign-currency spending. For a hire-car desk or a hotel that wants to block a deposit, frequently not: those checks are built around a credit line, which a Debitkarte does not have. That is the one job on a trip a real credit card still does better.
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