I am planning a trip to the Santorini islands for next July/ August...what is the most cost effective way to do this? Wait out a deal on a budget app (ie hopper or Skyscanner) or find a cheap flight into Europe and then book from there... apparently it costs next to nothing to travel around in Europe once you're actually in Europe but I don't know...I've never been

I have been to Santorini (having flown into Europe and travelled around a bit first). Initially to go to the island of Santorini we took the ferry. To ferry from Athens to Santorini takes something like 9+ hours if memory serves, and the Greek island ferry experience was... interesting to say the least. They can be fairly expensive to book a cabin to sleep inside the ferry, and the cheapest option on the boat is to book deck space, which in our case literally meant sleeping outside on the deck overnight. Also the ferries can basically go on strike whenever they want (and they often do). Needless to say, we both swore to never take a ferry around any of the Greek islands again for the remainder of the trip, and so to leave the island we caught a flight directly to Rome on Ryanair which cost something like $60Canadian and was a pretty short flight. The airport experience in Santorini was pretty simple and smooth overall.
The flights were pretty cheap through Ryan air and other budget airlines to and from Santorini, so depending what you want to do, My suggestion would be to look for the best deal to fly to some major city in Europe, and then the best flight to Santorini.
That being said, you can sometimes get good deals on multi-city flights. Kayak is good for this, so maybe check for any deals there?
Flying around Europe CAN be super cheap, but the budget airlines can also get their money out of you in the form of baggage fees etc, so it's something to be aware of.
Hope that helps!

Your instincts are right - sign up for notices from all the major airlines Air Canada, KLM, Air France, Air Transat, Westjet , Lufthansa for getting to European, be patient, you should be able to find flights to major centers in Europe in the $750 to $900 range if prices remain consistent, then book your inter european flights on low budget airlines when you know your dates. We have made 5 trips to Europe in the last five years and this is what we do. I use GoEuro,https://www.goeuro.com/ to see what is available for various transportation options and use eDreams to book or book with airlines directly https://ca.edreams.com/ - remember July and Aug are peak vacation times for Europeans as well as North Americans so someplace like the Greek Isles get booked up very quickly and are quite expensive - you cannot book this far out, but looking at London to Santorini in late June early July 2018 is anywhere from $400 to $650
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This 100%

Also try Rome2Rio for various transportation options

We flew from To Frankfurt then travelled around and took a ferry there, but on return we flew directly to Frankfurt. Flights were once a week so check your dates.

Just got back from. Greece.. I booked our return flights to London, then took a cheater flight to Athens and another charter to the island.. since I booked well in advance, it was cheaper to book the flight than ferry... Also the last two times I went, I had issues with the ferries - strikes.. so I always ended up spending way more booking a last min flight

Also Santorini is one of the most expensive islands in Greece since it is the most touristy.. you can look into other cheaper islands if you aren't dead set on Santorini.. check out Lesbos, Rhodes, Naxos, Paros, Crete, Zakynythos, Mykonos (although it was pretty expensive and packed with tourists a couple weeks ago when I was there)

The only reason I mentioned Santorini is because I know there's an airport there... We are planning on staying on one of the smaller Islands. I would have to ferry from Santorini to one of the smaller Islands yeah? We are kind of easy peasy once we get there it doesn't matter. But Santorini isn't our destination it's just the closest airport I know. Are there airports on any of the smaller Islands? Looks like I need to do a bit more homework... I just know that the smaller islands is our destination I'm just trying to find the cheapest way to get there

Kristy Kahl many of the islands have airports. Perhaps make a shortlist of which islands you would like to go to and use skyscanner.ca to see which ones have charter flights servicing them from Athens or which ever point of entry country you will be flying into

I have heard things like wait until you get to Europe and then book your flight from there to set destination... Is there no way I can pre-plan from here and still get the same deal? I have done my homework and now have a general idea of which Islands I would like to see and they are all in the same area but to be on the safe side I would like to plan as much in advance as I can. Not sure if that is the way to do it or not thougg

I booked my trip more than 4 months in advance.. all 7 flights.. the charter flights get more expensive as the seats get sold.. similar to how allegiant works. I recommend booking in advance

What was said about direct flight from Athens vs ferries, that is totally true. Unless you want to experience the famous (infamous) ferries! For just a little more, flying is a much quicker (and more pleasant) way to Santorini. I flew with Aegean.
Also there are fast and slow ferries. Buy a fast ferry ticket from a travel agent in Athens a few days in advance, you can get a guaranteed seat.

If you are on a tight budget watch for cheap flights to London , the flights from London to Athens are generally fairly reasonable. Be aware that the two discount carriers easy jet and Ryan play games with luggage fees pay extra special attention or the bargain will get eaten up by add -ons.The ferries are fine if u take the fast ferries it's not 9 hours and in the summer month it's often a pleasant trip. Take the train from Athens airport directly to the ferry terminal and avoid taxis. Hotels can be very expensive on Santorini but there are lots of budget choices as well. I just got back