It can often be cheaper if you're avoiding the main areas. Or go off-season. It can be great to find odd little things; I remember this typewriter museum being posted all over twitter: https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a23610/i...

My best ever holiday was pure serendipity: Inter-railing, before the advent of mobile phones. We had the Thomas Cook European Rail Timetable and no other guidebooks, doing the whole thing on signposts, local info, helpful bystanders, and simply wandering around interesting-looking bits of city centres.

(But for working Americans the thing in short supply is time, not money, hence the tremendous rush I guess)