Best Travel Credit Cards in Singapore
For travellers, the goal is miles you can redeem for flights, ideally with a strong foreign-currency earn rate and often airport lounge access. Most of these cards offer that, though one or two trade lounge perks for fuss-free non-expiring miles — and remember a foreign transaction fee still applies on overseas spend.
- 1Miles
Citi PremierMiles Card
Citibank
Why it fits: Non-expiring miles, wide transfer-partner list and lounge access. A long-standing default.
Annual fee S$196.20 · Min income S$30,000
Pros
- +Citi Miles never expire, so no rush to redeem
- +~2.2 mpd on foreign spend, good for travel
- +Wide transfer-partner list for flexible redemptions
- +Lounge access; first-year fee waived
Cons
- −S$196.20 annual fee from year two onward
- −Low ~1.2 mpd on local spend
- −Not especially beginner-friendly
- Miles
Why it fits: Beginner-friendly travel miles, non-expiring, with lounge visits.
Annual fee S$196.20 · Min income S$30,000
Pros
- +Beginner-friendly all-rounder for general spend + travel
- +Miles never expire, so no rush to redeem
- +Decent ~2.2 mpd on overseas spend for travel
- +Airport lounge access included
Cons
- −S$196.20 annual fee; auto spend-waiver ends Aug 2026
- −Low ~1.3 mpd base rate on local spend
- −Visa-only, no Amex perks for this card
- Miles
Why it fits: Geared to heavy and overseas spenders, with a strong foreign earn rate.
Annual fee S$261.60 · Min income S$30,000
Pros
- +First-year annual fee waived (S$261.60 thereafter)
- +~2.4 mpd base on foreign spend
- +Airport lounge access included
- +Visa option means wider acceptance than Amex variant
Cons
- −S$261.60 annual fee from year two onwards
- −Local rate only ~1.4 mpd, weak for SG spend
- −Standard foreign-currency fee still applies on FX spend
- 4Miles
Standard Chartered Journey Credit Card
Standard Chartered
Why it fits: All-rounder with solid foreign earn and bonus categories useful day to day.
Annual fee S$196.20 · Min income S$30,000
Pros
- +Up to 3 mpd on selected transport, grocery & food delivery
- +Solid all-rounder: ~1.2 mpd local, ~2 mpd foreign base
- +Points convert to airline miles for flexible redemptions
- +Comes with lounge access
Cons
- −S$196.20 annual fee from year 2 (first year waived)
- −3 mpd capped and limited to selected categories only
- −Low ~1.2 mpd on general local spend
- 5Miles
OCBC 90°N Card
OCBC
Why it fits: Miles that never expire and a higher earn rate on overseas spend. Fuss-free for travellers.
Annual fee S$196.20 · Min income S$30,000
Pros
- +Miles never expire
- +Higher earn rate on foreign-currency spend (2.1 mpd)
- +No cap on miles earned; convert in 1,000-mile blocks
- +First-year fee waived; waivable thereafter on S$10,000 annual spend
Cons
- −Local earn rate (1.3 mpd) is only average for a miles card
- −No complimentary airport lounge access as a standard perk
- −S$25 transfer fee applies when converting miles to a partner programme
- −3.25% foreign-currency transaction fee partly offsets the overseas earn rate
- 6Miles
Why it fits: Transfers to around 20 airline and hotel partners, with complimentary lounge visits.
Annual fee S$196.20 · Min income S$30,000
Pros
- +Points transfer to about 20 airline and hotel partners, with instant, fee-free conversions
- +4 complimentary global airport lounge visits per year via Mastercard Travel Pass (DragonPass) for the primary cardholder
- +Annual fee is waivable from year two on S$25,000 annual spend, and paying the fee returns a renewal bonus (12,000 miles from 2026) that offsets the cost
Cons
- −Base earn of 1.2 mpd local / 2.4 mpd foreign is mediocre, and those rates only hold on the best 25,000-points-to-10,000-miles transfer ratio; weaker partners drop you to 0.6 / 1.2 mpd
- −3.25% foreign currency fee erodes the 2.4 mpd advantage on overseas spend
- −KrisFlyer transfer ratio was devalued (effective 1 mpd local / 2 mpd foreign), so it is a weak card for earning Singapore Airlines miles
- −The lower S$30,000 salaried income threshold requires a S$50,000 HSBC Total Relationship Balance; without it the requirement is S$65,000
Booking from Singapore? Expect the local earn rate
Every card above advertises two earn rates, and the split is by billing currency, not by whether the purchase is travel. A flight bought from Singapore on a local airline's website, or a hotel prepaid on a platform that charges in Singapore dollars, normally earns the lower local rate — often only around half the foreign-currency rate on these cards — unless the card runs a specific travel-booking bonus. The higher overseas rate applies to foreign-currency spend during the trip itself; for the fees and currency mechanics on that side, see our overseas spending guide.
Where a bonus travel category does exist, each bank draws it its own way. One card may bonus only a named airline group's own tickets, another may exclude travel bookings from its bonus categories entirely, and an online travel agency may be classified differently from the airline it books you onto. Before routing a large booking through a card for the sake of its bonus, confirm with the bank that your booking channel qualifies; if you cannot confirm it, budget on the base rate.
What "lounge access" really means on these cards
Lounge access on Singapore travel cards is rarely the unlimited perk the marketing suggests. It usually means a small annual quota of complimentary visits through a lounge network such as DragonPass — the HSBC TravelOne, for example, includes four visits a year for the principal cardholder. Beyond a card's quota, further entries are typically charged per visit, and guests and supplementary cardholders are often not covered at all.
One of the picks above, the OCBC 90°N, includes no complimentary visits as a standard perk; its lounge programme is a paid one. So before you count lounge access toward justifying an annual fee, check three things with the bank: how many free visits you get, who is covered, and what an extra visit costs. If you fly twice a year, a couple of visits is genuinely useful. Beyond that, you are paying at the door.
Transfer partners or auto-crediting: pick your redemption style
Cards like the Citi PremierMiles and HSBC TravelOne earn bank points you later transfer to an airline or hotel programme — the TravelOne to around 20 partners. Flexibility is the draw: points parked with the bank on a non-expiring card do not expire while you decide, and you can shop between partners for the better redemption. The catch is a conversion step, which can involve minimum blocks and sometimes a transfer fee — the OCBC 90°N charges S$25 per conversion.
Co-branded cards such as the KrisFlyer UOB credit miles straight into your KrisFlyer account with no transfer step. That is genuinely fuss-free, but it locks you into one programme and starts the airline's own expiry clock — KrisFlyer miles, for example, expire three years after they are earned, where points on a non-expiring bank card do not. Transfer ratios also move: banks have devalued partner ratios before, so flexibility is a hedge as much as a convenience.
Frequently asked questions
- What's the best travel credit card in Singapore?
- It depends on where you spend and how you redeem, and there's no single winner. Compare foreign earn rates, lounge access and fees against your own travel habits, and confirm current terms with the issuer.
- Do travel cards still charge a foreign transaction fee?
- Almost always, yes. Even cards with high overseas earn rates apply a foreign transaction fee. Weigh the extra miles against that fee.
- Should my miles go to a transfer-partner card or straight into KrisFlyer?
- A co-brand card that credits KrisFlyer miles directly suits you if you only fly Singapore Airlines and want zero admin. A transfer-partner card suits you if you want to compare redemptions across airlines and hotels, or hedge against one programme devaluing. Once miles land in an airline programme they follow that programme's expiry rules, while points on a non-expiring bank card can wait — but check conversion fees and minimum blocks with the bank before choosing.
- Is airport lounge access on travel cards unlimited?
- No. It is typically a fixed number of complimentary visits per year through a network like DragonPass, usually for the principal cardholder only, with guests and further visits often charged per entry. Some travel cards include no free visits at all. Confirm the visit quota, who is covered and the per-entry charge with the bank before factoring lounge access into an annual-fee decision.