Get cheap eats and lodging this way plus your own personal guides. If you aren't shy, even visit distant relatives. As an Army Brat, my parents were in Germany when we took a vacation to Italy and stayed with some relatives. We didn't understand a thing they said and to this day I still think of it like the National Lampoon European Vacation movie because I don't know if those people were really related to me or not. Best vacation in my childhood that I remember.
Kids love it.
And it's cheaper than a hotel room. My parents were not only poor but cheap as heck. We camped all over the United States and Europe. Best camping trip was in the Grand Canyon when a skunk kept scratching at the side of the tent. Learned all about tying food up in trees on that trip.