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With so many travel credit cards available, it can seem overwhelming to try to pick the right one for you. Should you be mostly concerned about getting the best sign-up bonus? Are you worried about being able to easily redeem your points? Or are travel protections the most important aspect of a travel credit card for you?

If you’re looking to dip your toes in the world of travel rewards, one of our favorite choices for first-timers is the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. Introduced over 10 years ago, the Sapphire Preferred is still one of the best all-around credit cards for beginners. With its low $95 annual fee, easy-to-use points and advanced redemption possibilities, this is a card that can grow with you over time.

But don’t take our word for it. Let’s dive into the Chase Sapphire Preferred and compare it against other entry-level travel credit cards.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred has always offered a solid sign-up bonus, so you know you’re getting a good value when you first get the card. Right now, folks who apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred can earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in purchases on the card in the first three months after opening the account. This isn’t the best offer we’ve seen for the card, but it’ll still earn you a good chunk of points toward your next vacation.

Now, you might have seen that the Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card is currently offering 75,000 miles as a sign-up bonus. While that’s a strong offer — and on the surface might look better than the Chase Sapphire Preferred — it’ll often net you about the same value. The real difference is if you want to transfer your points to travel partners, but more on that later.

Miles earned with the Capital One Venture card are worth 1 cent per mile when you redeem them for travel purchases you make with the card. But when redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards points for travel at Chase’s website, you’re getting 1.25 cents per point. That means the 60,000 bonus points on the Chase Sapphire Preferred are worth the same $750 toward travel as 75,000 bonus points on the Capital One Venture, which are also worth $750.

There’s no better way to start learning more about travel loyalty programs than by starting off with a big stack of points. The 60,000 bonus points on the Chase Sapphire Preferred will get you excited about the opportunities and let you redeem points for a trip right out of the gate.

Click here to earn 60,000 bonus points on the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

That said, earning points doesn’t stop with the sign up bonus. The Chase Sapphire Preferred also earns bonus points on a handful of common purchase categories, which makes racking up points easy with your everyday spending.

Here’s a look at how many points you’ll earn with the card:

We’ve found that these categories are relatively broad, too. Dining often includes things like bars and clubs. Likewise, travel includes public transportation, tolls, taxis and just about everything in between. Plus, don’t forget you can earn more on travel purchases when you book flights, hotels and rental cars through Chase Ultimate Rewards.

On top of this, the card offers an annual 10% points bonus on your account anniversary. This is calculated based on the amount of money you’ve spent over the year on your Sapphire Preferred at a rate of 1 point per dollar spent. So if you spent $20,000 on your card, you’d get 2,000 bonus points.

Related: Maximize your spending: The best credit card for each type of purchase.

We promise you, using your travel points isn’t going to be as difficult as you might think — especially if you’re earning points with the right program. Thankfully, the Chase Sapphire Preferred earns points that are flexible and extremely easy to use.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred earns points called Chase Ultimate Rewards. There are two options when it comes time to book a trip with these points: redeeming them through Chase’s website or transferring them to one of Chase’s partner loyalty programs.

Booking through the Chase website is very straightforward. Any flight or hotel that you can normally book through Expedia or Orbitz can likely be booked through Chase. There are no blackout dates or restricted awards — you can choose any flight or hotel you want.

The process works just like any other travel website: Search for a flight or hotel, choose one and book it. But when you book, you can pay with points instead of cash. You can even pay for part of your trip with points and the rest with cash. Either way, your points are worth 1.25 cents apiece toward the price of your flight, hotel room or other travel booking.

How does this compare to other starter travel credit cards? We’ve already talked about Capital One miles, which are only worth 1 cent each toward travel. But what about American Express?

The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express also earns American Express Membership Rewards points that can be redeemed for travel. When using AmexTravel.com to redeem your points, you’ll only get 1 cent per point toward airfare. Amex points are worth less on hotel bookings with the Amex EveryDay. Likewise, Citi ThankYou points are worth 1 cent each when using them to book travel through Citi’s website.

All information about the Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express has been collected independently by CNN. The Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express is not currently available through CNN.

Get up to $750 in travel value with 60,000 bonus points on the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

When you’re ready to take your credit card rewards one step further, you can also transfer the Ultimate Rewards points you earn with the Chase Sapphire Preferred to any of Chase’s 14 airline or hotel partners:

Ultimate Rewards points transfer to these partners at a 1-to-1 ratio, so the 60,000 bonus points from the Chase Sapphire Preferred sign-up offer equal 60,000 points or miles in any of these airline or hotel programs. You can also transfer as many or as few points as you want — the only rule is that points must be transferred in blocks of 1,000 points.

When you transfer points to another program, you’re subject to that program’s rules and award availability. While this process is more complicated than booking on Chase’s website, it’s not hard once you understand the basics, especially if you focus on some of the domestic airlines and hotel programs.

The upside to transferring Ultimate Rewards points to one of these programs is that you’ll often squeeze more value from your points. For example, World of Hyatt has some excellent properties and having 60,000 points in your back pocket could lead to a fantastic luxury vacation.

For example, the spectacular Grand Hyatt Baha Mar charges 21,000-29,000 World of Hyatt points per night. So long as there’s award availability, you won’t pay more than 29,000 points regardless of the cash cost of the stay.

While American Express, Citi and Capital One all have their own set of airline and hotel partners, Chase’s partners are popular because they include several easy domestic options, like United MileagePlus, Southwest Rapid Rewards, World of Hyatt and Marriott Bonvoy. As you learn more about the Ultimate Rewards program and its international airline partners, the opportunities to travel around the world are endless.

Access the Ultimate Rewards transfer partners with the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

Even though it’s a relatively inexpensive travel credit card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred offers a surprising amount of protection when it comes to covering you before and during your travels.

By using the Sapphire Preferred card to pay for your flights, hotels and any other nonrefundable travel activities, you’ll automatically get trip cancellation insurance, trip delay protection, baggage delay insurance and a primary auto rental damage waiver.

So, what do each of these protections do? Trip cancellation insurance reimburses nonrefundable travel costs if you need to cancel a trip due to a covered situation like sickness or severe weather. It pays up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip for all pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses.

Trip delay protection is another one of our favorite Chase Sapphire Preferred benefits, and one that you might find yourself using more than you expect. If your flight is delayed by 12 hours or more (or requires an overnight stay), you can claim up to $500 in out-of-pocket expenses like hotels, taxis and food. This covers the card holder and family members booked on the same reservation.

And while many travel credit cards offer auto rental damage coverage nowadays, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is one of the few travel credit cards that offer primary car rental coverage. This means if you get in an accident with your rental car, you can submit a damage claim directly to Chase rather than submitting the claim to your personal auto insurer first. Note that the card does not include liability insurance.

By comparison, Citi’s starter travel card, the Citi Premier® Card, doesn’t offer any travel protections despite charging the same $95 annual fee. Knowing that you have baked-in travel insurance if an unfortunate situation arises is huge and will help put your mind at ease when booking a trip with the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

See if you qualify for the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

When you compare the Chase Sapphire Preferred against other entry-level travel credit cards from American Express, Capital One and Citi, it’s easy to see how the card has stood the test of time and remains a popular choice for travel credit cards.

The card has a large sign-up bonus and easy-to-use points, plus a suite of travel protections that can help you when things go wrong on the road. Plus, the card earns bonus points on purchase categories where you might already be spending money.

If you’re in the market for your first travel credit card, consider the Chase Sapphire Preferred with its 60,000-point sign-up bonus as a way to get one step closer to booking that dream vacation.

Learn more and apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred with an 60,000-point bonus.

Find out which cards CNN Underscored chose as our best travel credit cards currently available.

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