Baler, although small and remote, is one of the best destinations in the Philippines for many reasons. The town is the capital of Aurora, located between the lavish forests of the Sierra Madres and the temperate Pacific Ocean on the East. One fun fact about Baler is that it is known as the birthplace of surfing in the Philippines. How did it become a surfing town? In the late 1970’s Francis Ford Coppola filmed most of the scenes from his cult classic Apocalypse Now in Baler.