Whether you have your heart set on the twilight tasting menu Taipei’s Shilin Market or whale-watching off the coast of Australia, transforming your travel dreams into reality takes a lot of advance planning. Researching flights and fares. Making hotel reservations. Booking tours and event tickets. And all of these things cost money. Have you thought about how you’re going to pay for all that? And by that, we don’t mean budgeting for your adventure. We mean, quite literally, what payment means will you use?

Maybe you’ve used your traditional debit or credit card to pay for previous vacations, or perhaps you’ve adopted Apple Pay or Google as your preferred payment method. But you may want to consider another option: opening a special-purpose travel credit card. From the expenses you incur before you take off on your trip, to the money you’ll spend once you arrive at your destination, the best travel credit cards can make traveling safer, easier, and less expensive, They can also send some nifty rewards your way. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why you might want to slip one of these cards in your wallet and how to get the most out of any card you choose.

Cash Still Counts in Small Numbers

Carrying the local currency is essential no matter where in the world you wander. There’s a good chance that the seamstress who crafted the kente shirt you fell in love while traipsing through an open-air market in Ghana doesn’t have an internet connection. If you want to tote that treasure home, you’ll need a little paper, not plastic, in your wallet. But carrying too much cash can be perilous. Having your wallet stolen is never a pleasant experience, but trust me, it’s exponentially worse when you’re traveling. Believe it or not, some 400,000 pockets are picked every day. European cities, including Prague, Barcelona, and Rome, are among the riskier destinations. But no location is immune to the problem of petty theft.

Carrying too much cash can put another cramp in your style. Who wants to spend their time at currency exchanges when they could be out seeing the sights they left home to see? If you’re jumping borders anywhere but the EU, you’ll spend time swapping currency in each country you visit. Exchange rates may not always be in your favor. And in any case, they’re rather vexing. When you carry a travel credit card, you can avoid some of that hassle. That is, unless you really want to add to that collection of rubles, rupees, and random coins you’ve been working on over the years?

But You Already Have Plastic, You Say?

Chances are, the debit card you already carry works pretty well for you at home. Millions of businesses accept it and you can withdraw cash at umpteen ATMs. But something happens to your card when you cross an international border. Often it gets more expensive to use because banks apply foreign transaction fees to withdrawals you make abroad. It’s worth mentioning that the amount you can withdraw using your debit card is limited by how much you have in the bank attached to it. Not to raise another sore subject, but emergencies happen. You may need to withdraw more money that you have in your account should one befall you. That’s when you need a credit card, not a debit card.

Will the basic all-purpose card you have in your wallet help you circumvent these problems? Probably not. But a travel credit card can. Most waive foreign transaction fees altogether. So you won’t get nicked every time you buy a round of beers for some new-found friends or take your sweetheart out for a Michelin-rated dinner. Travel credit cards also make it easy to withdraw precisely the amount of local currency you need on any given day, with no fees attached. And then there are the perks. From airline upgrades to dining discounts to concierge services at luxury hotels, there are a lot of them. And that’s what attracts most travelers to travel credit card programs.

So What’s the Catch?

Actually, there are quite a few of them. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, whether it’s souvlaki-stuffed pita or a steaming bowl of pho. That’s why comparison shopping in the travel credit card category is critical. Travel credit card companies are great at emphasizing the rewards they offer, but they tend not to be so vocal about restrictions. So you need to read, absorb, and understand the implications of the fine print in their agreements. Starting with the big one: APRs.

The APRs May Astound You

Do you know how much interest you’re charged on your all-purpose credit card balances? It’s a fair bet that the travel credit card rates you’ll see when you shop around will be a lot higher. —by a lot. Some charge as much as 25% APR on any balance you carry. The workaround? Never carry a balance. Pay off everything you charge to your travel credit card every billing cycle and you won’t get socked with high-interest payments. If you remember just one thing when you come to the end of this article, make it that. No balance, no interest.

And yet, you definitely want to use your travel credit card for expensive purchases. That’s the only way to earn the lovely perks travel credit cards are known for. In fact, many travel credit cards have hefty minimum purchase requirements to meet before you’re eligible for any rewards at all. So rack up those high-ticket purchases Just make sure you’re in a position to bring your balance back to zero every month.

Get Ready for a Parade of Perks

Travel credit cards compete for your business by way of the rewards they offer. Parsing through each company’s program takes time because reward structures tend to be complicated. But as you review what each has to offer, there’s really just one question to keep in mind: what matters to you most? If you’re a seasoned traveler with thousands of frequent flyer miles in the bank, miles may be meaningless. On the other hand, if you want to make a career out of traveling as I have, those miles might be exactly what you need to launch your new lifestyle. Do airports and long layovers leave you cranky? A program that gives you access to various airline’s private airport lounges can take the edge off of an extended itinerary. Are you a better-safe-than-sorry kind of traveler? You might want to look for a rewards program that offers free travel insurance. Depending on the policy you select, travel insurance can provide coverage for common occurrences like lost luggage and unexpected natural disasters that cause you to cancel your trip. Or perhaps you’d like some company on the magnificent beaches of Seychelles. A card that rewards you for your purchases with a companion ticket might pay for the camaraderie you crave.

The Big Buts

Travel credit card companies are in business to make money. That means they don’t give away perks willy-nilly and typically put up some barriers around them. Minimum purchase requirements are nearly universal and some cards further insist you make those purchases in a brief amount of time after receiving your card. Some cards dictate that only certain types of purchases qualify for reward points. Hotels? Check! Kibble for your golden retriever? Maybe not. And some go so far as to restrict you to certain brands. For example, that low-fare ticket you find on Mom & Pop’s airline may not count towards your perks. Do you buy a more expensive ticket from one of your card’s affiliated airlines to get your rewards? That’s a calculation you may have to make many times over to get the most out of your card.

Bonus or Baloney?

Some credit card companies try to woo customers with introductory sign-on bonuses. Those bonuses may pay out in cash, miles, services, or discounts. Look at bonuses the way you do other perks. Does the offer represent something you’re sure to use and enjoy? For me, cash checks both of those boxes. If I were you, I’d look for a cash-bonus card for maximum flexibility. You never know when you might want to buy a round of margaritas in Mexico City.

The Funny Thing About Fees

One thing that separates travel credit cards from all-purpose cards is the high annual fees many of them charge. Here’s where you’ll need to exercise your math skills. Do the perks you receive with a card meet or exceed the value of the annual fee you’ll pay? Some companies issue immediate credits against your balance when you pay your annual fee. What could it pay for? A free night in a hotel or the cost of a global entry card come to mind for me. Interestingly, as the travel industry suffers in the wake of the coronavirus, some travel credit cards are trying hard to maintain customer loyalty. They’re lowering their annual fees and adding new ways to earn points. Ironically, while you may not be traveling immediately, now might be just the right time to apply for a travel credit card.

About the author

Susan Doktor is a journalist and business strategist who hails from New York City. She guest- and ghost-blogs on a wide range of topics including finance, technology, travel, and government affairs.