Accessing home network remotely

I have some file shares and a media server I use on my home network that I want to be able to access from outside the network. I’m not sure if this would be better to do with a VPN tunnel into my home network from the devices outside, or if it is better to open the services externally and manage access that way. In my head, opening anything on my network externally feels like the bigger risk and will require more management, but is there an advantage to doing that over a private tunnel?