Amex Platinum Travel vs HDFC Regalia Gold: 2026 Comparison

HDFC Regalia Gold is the better card for most people: it's cheaper, its fee is waivable, its 2% forex markup suits overseas trips, and it includes 6 free international lounge visits. Amex Platinum Travel pulls ahead only for people who can put ₹7 lakh or more a year on an Amex and collect its full milestone ladder.

Side-by-side

Feature	Amex Platinum Travel	HDFC Regalia Gold
Joining fee	₹5,000	₹2,500
Annual fee	₹5,000	₹2,500
Fee waiver spend	None	₹4 lakh a year
Base reward rate	2%	1.25%
Key category rates	3X at 50+ Reward Multiplier partner brands	2.5% on travel; 5X at Myntra, Nykaa, Reliance Digital, M&S
Reward type / point value	Membership Rewards, 30 paise a point	Reward Points, 50 paise a point
Forex markup	3.5%	2%
Domestic lounge	2 a quarter, gated by prior-quarter spend	3 a quarter, gated by ₹60,000 prior-quarter spend
International lounge	Priority Pass membership ($99 fee waived), visits may be charged	6 free visits a year via Priority Pass
Min. monthly income	₹50,000	₹1,50,000
Network	Amex	Visa

These numbers come from BestCard's latest card data. Both issuers revised these cards during 2026, so verify on the issuer's site before applying.

How the rewards work

Amex Platinum Travel earns Membership Rewards points, which BestCard rates at a 2% effective base with each point worth 30 paise. The real money is in milestones: 7,500 bonus points at ₹1.9 lakh of spend, another 10,000 at ₹4 lakh, and 22,500 points plus a ₹10,000 Taj e-gift card at ₹7 lakh in a cardmembership year. Fuel, insurance, utility, cash and EMI transactions earn nothing. New members get 10,000 points on ₹15,000 spend within 90 days in the first year.

HDFC Regalia Gold earns 5 Reward Points per ₹200 since 15 May 2026, which works out to 1.25% when redeemed for flights or hotels at 50 paise a point, and 2.5% on travel. Its milestones are flight vouchers: ₹5,000 each at ₹5 lakh and ₹7.5 lakh of annual spend. It also gives a ₹1,500 Myntra or Nykaa voucher for every quarter with ₹1.5 lakh of spend, and Swiggy One plus MMT Black Gold memberships if you spend ₹1 lakh in the first 90 days.

Worked example 1: ₹40,000 a month

Assume ₹5,000 of this is fuel and bills, and ₹5,000 is travel.

Amex Platinum Travel: the ₹5,000 of fuel and bills earns nothing, so ₹35,000 × 2% = ₹700 a month, or ₹8,400 a year. Eligible spend of ₹4.2 lakh crosses the ₹1.9 lakh and ₹4 lakh milestones: 17,500 points × ₹0.30 = ₹5,250. Total ₹13,650, minus the ₹5,000 fee = ₹8,650.

HDFC Regalia Gold: ₹5,000 × 2.5% = ₹125 on travel, plus ₹35,000 × 1.25% = ₹437.50 elsewhere, so ₹562.50 a month or ₹6,750 a year. Annual spend of ₹4.8 lakh clears the ₹4 lakh waiver, so no fee. Total ₹6,750.

Amex leads by about ₹1,900, but only if you value its points at the full 30 paise.

Worked example 2: ₹75,000 a month

Assume ₹7,500 is fuel and bills, and ₹10,000 is travel.

Amex Platinum Travel: ₹67,500 × 2% = ₹1,350 a month, or ₹16,200 a year. Eligible spend of ₹8.1 lakh unlocks all three milestones: 40,000 points × ₹0.30 = ₹12,000, plus the ₹10,000 Taj voucher. Total ₹38,200, minus ₹5,000 = ₹33,200.

HDFC Regalia Gold: ₹10,000 × 2.5% = ₹250, plus ₹65,000 × 1.25% = ₹812.50, so ₹1,062.50 a month or ₹12,750 a year. At ₹9 lakh you collect both flight vouchers (₹10,000) and four quarterly vouchers (₹6,000), with the fee waived. Total ₹28,750.

The gap widens to about ₹4,450 in Amex's favour. That assumes you'll actually use a Taj voucher, and that every merchant you use takes Amex, which isn't the case at many smaller Indian shops.

Lounge access and travel

Both cards now tie domestic lounges to spending. From 1 October 2026, Platinum Travel gives 2 domestic visits a quarter only if you met the previous quarter's spend target: ₹70,000 in Q3 2026 for Q4 visits, then ₹1,00,000 a quarter from Q4 2026 onwards. Regalia Gold gives 3 domestic visits a quarter after ₹60,000 of spend in the preceding quarter. Regalia Gold's bar is lower and its allowance bigger.

Internationally, Regalia Gold is clearly ahead with 6 complimentary Priority Pass visits a year. Amex waives the $99 Priority Pass membership fee, but per-visit charges may still apply, so it isn't free access. Regalia Gold also adds Boarding Edge, where uploading a boarding pass on SmartBuy unlocks 2 perks a quarter from a spa visit, an Uber airport transfer, hotel dining or a room upgrade. Our explainer on quarterly spend triggers for lounge perks covers how these gates work.

For overseas spending, the forex gap matters. On ₹1 lakh spent abroad, Amex's 3.5% markup costs ₹3,500 against HDFC's ₹2,000, before 18% GST on the markup.

Fees and waivers

Regalia Gold costs ₹2,500 and disappears once you spend ₹4 lakh a year, roughly ₹33,300 a month. Platinum Travel's ₹5,000 is fixed every year. Amex's argument is that its milestones repay the fee several times over, which is true at ₹4 lakh and above. Below ₹1.9 lakh of annual spend, you'd be paying ₹5,000 for very little.

The income bars point the other way. Amex asks for ₹50,000 a month, while HDFC asks for ₹1,50,000. If you earn between those, Platinum Travel may be the only one of the two you can get.

Who should pick which

Choose Amex Platinum Travel if you spend ₹4 lakh to ₹7 lakh or more a year on merchants that accept Amex, you like the idea of a Taj voucher, and you mostly travel within India. It's also the realistic pick if your income is below HDFC's threshold. Our Amex Platinum Travel review covers it in full.

Choose HDFC Regalia Gold if you travel abroad, want free international lounge visits, prefer Visa's acceptance, or spend between ₹4 lakh and ₹6 lakh a year, where its waived fee and flight vouchers give steady value with less effort. See our Regalia Gold review.

Verdict

Regalia Gold is the safer, more versatile card, and the one we'd suggest for most premium-card applicants who qualify. Platinum Travel is a specialist: at high annual spend its milestone ladder is hard to beat, but it asks you to commit a lot of spending to one card with patchier acceptance and a steep forex markup. Many travellers end up holding Regalia Gold for overseas use and putting domestic spend wherever the milestones are.

Want to see how either fits your own spending? Put them side by side in Compare, or let the card matcher shortlist options for you.