do you pay extra to hook up electric/water

[steveh2112]

in most national and state parks, do you pay extra to hook up to the electric and water and if so, how much is it and is it metered?

also, do RV's pay the same price as vans, SUVs and tents for the site?

i notice on the yosemite valley info page its $20/night, doesn't say anything about if that's for RV, tent or whatever

thx steve

[Oaklevel]

In Virginia State Parks everything is extra including pets for us VA State parks are over $40 a night but our near by private campground is full hookups, cleaner, larger sites, for $30 a night.......

[DBW]

For non-Canadians, hydro service is electricity.

[loulou57]

Our Provincial and National parks are much the same....

basic site...no hydro

serviced....electricity, never full water or sewer hookup

vehicles....site includes one vehicle plus your boat. Any extra vehicles park somewhere else and pay extra

equipment...Your RV plus two tents ( dining or sleeping)


You pay one fee per site. Your permit includes day pass to other P parks in the area. Includes your elec, no meters, water and dumping. Usually 6 people per site allowed.

There are water taps about every 5 sites, if we run out we run our water hose and fill tank rather than go to fill station.

[wintersun]

Often public campgrounds that do have sites with electricity and water will also have "tent" sites that do not and even RV sites that are "primitive". If you want the electricity you pay more for the campsites where it is provided.

Some private campgrounds charge a premium for 50 amp service over the standard 30 amp but we avoid the private campgrounds for many reasons.

If you can do without the full hookups the number of available campsites will quadruple and your daily campsite cost will drop by 50-75 percent.

[revump]

Yes ... it makes momma really happy when she has full power to run the house

[Norskeman]

In New York state campgrounds there is an additional fee if it has electric or full hook ups. Also more $ if you camp on prime water sites along rivers or on lakes. Nothing is "metered".

We just stayed at Wellesley Island state park - $62.00 for 2 nights with full hook up (water,elec (30 amp) and sewer).
Staying at another state park (Sampson State park) with electric only (30 amp)- $71.00 for 3 nights.

[tatest]

I pay extra if that is the fee structure.

Most of the public campgrounds I use, there are different classes: tent camping areas, designated tent sites, designated RV sites. RV sites may be in separate areas from camping sites, and there may be multiple classes of RV sites, whetther primitive, electric, water/electric, full hookup, paved vs unpaved, and pull-through vs back-in. All these classes can have different fees, the principle being the more services you buy, the more space you buy, the more you pay. A 50 amp site might be higher priced than a 30 amp site, even if you ate plugging in only 30.

It is not usually about what you bring, rather what you take. A tent in a full hookup RV site pays for a full hookup RV site. A RV might be parked in the parking area of a designated tent site, no hookups, and pay the tent site fee. I've found it common to have "second unit" fees, e.g. if you put a tent on your RV site with your RV, or two tents in one tent site, there will be an extra fee, but not the full fee for a tent site.

There are also "extra persons" fees and pet fees in many public campgrounds.

I've not yet seen metered utilities in a campground, most do not permit extended stays, a daily charge for the utility seems to fit that need. Public RV parks, however, may differ. I've seen metered electricity in city and county RV parks, for sites occupied long term by seasonal workers (harvest, planting, powerplant maintenance, Christmas rush at Amazon, etc).

If you are seeing only one price, there is likely only one type of camping in that campground, or else you aren't seeing the whole fee structure. I've found that National Parks often have different facilities by campground, rather than by campsite. Many have no utilities (some don't even have water in the campground) and might not even have designated campsites. Been where you just pick a spot in a big open area and pitch the tent or roll out the bedroll.

[vermilye]

One more point. While a few have hookups, most national parks only have dry campsites.

[NCWriter]

You asked about metering. Usually public campsites are not metered because your electric - IF there is electric service - is a flat cost included in the campground site fee.

(BUT the exception comes in non- public campgrounds for long term rentals. For example, if you rent a commercial RV park site for four months in Florida in the winter, your rate will be different than a daily rate, but you also may have to pay a metered electric rate based on your actual use, pay for a cable TV account, etc.)

One thing to be aware of: public (state, national, county) campgrounds often have limits on how long you can stay, typically two weeks maximum. Some limit this to two weeks in the whole year in that campground. Others allow you to leave and return. The idea is to make sites available to others.

Whenever you are trying to figure out the rate and policies that apply to a public state or national campground, you want to read the web site carefully and notice specific site details. How long is ithe site, are electric and water included, are there flush toilets, vault toilets or no toilets, hot showers, cold showers, etc. A campground may have several loops, one with electric, others without. One of my favorites in Florida has one loop only allowing dogs.

[Bob___Ann]

We have found the same as JoeGood988

[JoeGood988]

Most campgrounds, you pay for a site...basic site (no hookups) is one price usually for tents...then a water/electric site...finally a full hookup site that has everything a casmpground has to offer, water/elec./sewer/cable/etc You could put a tent on a full hookup site....you will pay that rate even if you don't use the sewer & cable. You can put a van/rv/motorhome on any of the sites....you just pay that rate for the site....sometimes there is an option of 30 amp service or 50 amp service...there also are premium sites (close to water or additional picnic tables, shelter and firepit...but most state.national parks are very basic...usually water/electric with a dump station or a tent site with no electric...varies as you have to call to get information on each campground....Yellowstone NP has like 6 campgrounds and they are not the same...you need to call and get what is charged for what.

[ksg5000]

Depends. Not all campgrounds are the same. As far as whether you pay more for RV vs car etc - not usually - it's often based on number of vehicles rather than type.