For a weekend stay, the hookups you need depend mostly on how self-contained your RV is and how you like to camp. If you have a smaller rig and only plan to be there Friday through Sunday, water and electric is often enough for most people. That gives you power for lights, air conditioning, outlets, and charging, plus fresh water for the sink, toilet, and shower. If the campground has a bathhouse and you’re trying to keep things simple, you can even get by with just electric in some cases.
Full hookups are nice, but for a short trip they are not always necessary. A full hookup site usually includes water, electric, and sewer. The sewer connection matters most if you expect to use your tanks heavily, take long showers, or run the toilet a lot. For a weekend, many RVers can use their holding tanks without needing to dump until they get home, especially if they start the trip with empty tanks. That said, if you’re traveling with several people, using a lot of water, or staying in hot weather where you’ll be running the A/C and showering often, full hookups can make the weekend easier.
If you are dry camping or boondocking, you can do it without hookups, but that’s a different style of trip and takes more planning. You need enough battery power, fresh water, and tank capacity to last the whole stay. For a first weekend outing, I’d usually suggest at least electric if possible. It removes a lot of stress, especially if you’re still learning how quickly your tanks fill and how much battery you use.
One thing people overlook is the amperage. A site may have electric hookups, but you still need to know whether it is 30 amp or 50 amp and whether your RV matches. If your rig is set up for 30 amp and the site only has 50 amp, you can usually use an adapter. Going the other direction is not as simple. It’s also worth checking whether the water hookup has good pressure and whether you need a pressure regulator.
For a weekend, I’d rank it like this: full hookups if you want the least hassle, water and electric if you want a good balance of convenience and cost, and electric only if you’re comfortable managing tanks and water. If you can tell me the size of your RV and how many people are traveling, I can suggest what would be the most practical choice.
