According to Matt Gross, the Frugal Traveler:
Three hundred years ago, wealthy young Englishmen began taking a post-Oxbridge trek through France and Italy in search of art, culture and the roots of Western civilization. With nearly unlimited funds, aristocratic connections and months (or years) to roam, they commissioned paintings, perfected their language skills and mingled with the upper crust of the Continent. No one knows who came up with it, but their adventures soon had a perfectly appropriate name: the Grand Tour.
Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? But how can a normal person afford such things? Gross walks his readers through his journey last summer and emphasizes ways to save like hitchhiking and getting invited to family meals.
He’s also big on visiting Eastern Europe:
Everything you can find in Old Europe is also available elsewhere on the Continent for much less, particularly in post-Communist countries like Romania. In Bucharest, I found clever art projects, new museums and La Metoc, a century-old house that serves beer made from tea. Get to the New Europe soon, before it gets old, well known and far, far from frugal.
Of course, one needs to get over there first. I found round trip flights from New York to Bucharest from $700 and up just now, but I didn’t scour the Web for deals (S.O.P. for a frugal traveler).