until recently i've always thought that baler was south of manila, got a copy of the lonely planet travel guide and realized that it's actually northeast of manila. on the map baler is nearer to manila than LU. Does anyone know how to get there? travel time? road conditions? recommended accomodations? boards for rent? surf season?unfortunately, lonely planet doesn't give driving directions  . thanks  

ei, ocean, check out the main page of the the surf.com.ph website. i think ther's enough info there.

It is closer on them map but further in real life because of the route you take to get to Baler. You need to go through the Sierra Madres first.

By bus: take the Genesis bus (station is in EDSA cor Taft).
By really sturdy car: Go through Cabanatuan then towards Palayan and Bongayon -- then you hit the mountains... drive straight through them til you get to Aurora. (Actually if Alex is still around you can ask him for specific directions since I got those directions from him)

The trip can take between 5 to 15 hours depending on conditions and mode of transpo.

yeah, i asked a friend from cabanatuan and he said the same thing. it's only 75 km from cabanatuan but it's gonna take about 5 hours to get to baler. really bad roads. he said average speed is like 30 km/hr so forget that. maybe when i have more time to spare... or they get those roads fixed. hehe   thanks kage! when's surfing season there anyway?