I used a garden hose once. Took a bit longer, but worked fine. Put hose in pool, turned it on to fill hose, crimped hose with hand, then unscrewed it from the hose bib. Dragged that end to where it was lower than the other end in the pool, and let go of the crimp. Instant siphon. That'll work if you don't have a vac hose. Repeat with multiple hoses to speed up the process.
The important part of 26venus' tip: you set the end in the pool where you want the siphoning to stop. If it were me, and I just threw the hose in, I'd forget about it five minutes later and come back next day to an empty pool. Same goes for a sump pump. If you set a siphon hose up so it can't shift around, it won't drain more than you want it to, even if you go take a nap!!