Locale is a formal, countable noun and can be used to indicate the place where something happens. It indicates a general place not an exact location. We can also use the world locale for the setting of a film or book. An example could be "They chose a tropical island for the locale of their wedding." We don't know where exactly they had their wedding on the island. Location is also a countable noun but it is not formal. The meaning is an exact place not a general place. This word is much more commonly used by native speakers, compared to locale.

location refers to(means) a place. For instance(like, for example), London, Vietnam, Japan, New-York, etc(and more). Locale refers to a person. For instance, if you go to Japan and meet someone from that place (Japanese), he would be a locale.