I am hoping to stay in Koh Phangan for 5 nights in Feb 06. What's it like and what are the must do's? Any advice on where to stay? (moderate budget). Thanks

we stayed at the phangan buri resort for a week last year...my daughter wanted to experience the full moon party...
not a lot to do there...the pool was nice, the ocean was too rough to dive or snorkel (october) but it was still nice. very rustic, you have to walk most places over uneven trails to get to "town".
do not recommend the reggae boat tour...i should have known better....but got talked into it...they packed way too many kids on this boat...rough seas...they lit up big fat tobacco/pot joints to start the party.,..all i did was pray to make it to shore...we ended up
leaving the tour...taking a songtaw back to town and thanking our lucky stars that we did not die that day.
the restaurants are all quite good, they show new release movies posted out front so you can plan your meals/movies.
overall...interesting, fun especially if you are young & party oriented

As Divediva said it is still very much a fun/full moon party laid back place, we don't know your age group or what type of trip you are looking for, I actualy think the whole FMP thing has actually gone against the place is a way as that is really all people think about, Koh Tao is nice but begining to develop, now is the time to get to these places as already more upscale resorts are being planned and in the case of Koh Tao now open.

here are some up to date September and August reviews on accommodation on KPG.

http://www.res24.com/review/posts.ht...=beachsiam.com

You can then clcick on each place reviewd and see photos and prices,
you can find around 30 different places from USD 5 upwards ( serious ! ) right up to top places

http://www.r24.org/beachsiam.com/kohphangan/hotels/

You can get there by flying to Samui and then short boat trip, thought the airfares to Samui are very high as no budget airlines, can costs you about USD 180 return though cheaper if you take very early or last flight from bangkok, but last flight no good as too late for boat.
A cheap and easy way to get there from bangkok is with Lomprayah. They have twice a day express air-con bus to Chumphon where you board their high speed Jet Catamaran to Koh Tao, Koh Phangan and it continues to Samui, costs about USD 25 one way so a good easy deal, they also go twice a day from Hua Hin using the same routing.

This has the map so you can see KPG relative to to places, plus schedules from Bangkok and Hua Hin, you can also take the train to Chumphon from both of those but then you have to get to the port, doing the whole trip with Lomprayah is easy:

http://www.lomprayah.com/E/route.html

Hope that all helps

My daughter and her boyfriend spent 6 nights on Koh Phanagan in mid August. They flew from Bangkok, then took the ferry.

They stayed at the Sanctuary and loved it. It was US$40 per night for a very clean stilt house with hot tub. She described the place as a luxury hippy resort. They have a very nice restaurant and lots of massage/spa/yoga/ocean/hiking activities.

One thing they really liked was that it is close enough to visit the full moon activities, but far enough away that it is quiet.