Project move

Java is a big island with everything from very large cities to tiny villages that have hardly changed in the last 100 years.
My personal preference if for a small town just outside a small to medium city, Purwokerto being top of my list.
It has good roads but not that much traffic, and it has a train station that will get you to Yogya or Jakarta easily as cheaply. Most of the food is Indonesian, but western food is available, if a little limited in range.
There are plenty more places pretty much like Purwokerto, but that just happens to be a place I know well and like a lot. Yogyakarta is a very good place to live. Being much bigger than Purwokrto means it has a far wider selection of everything, but you can still live easily in a quieter place that's just walking distance from the main town.
Yogya is another of my favourite Indonesian cities, and somewhere I'd seriously consider retiring to.
Many like Bogor and Bandung, and I can see why someone would be attracted to those places, but they aren't my cup of tea as I tend to avoid places where tourist go, with the notable exception of Jogja (Because I like the place so much).

I've deliberately used two spellings of Jogja as that is sometimes a confusion, some thinking they're two different places, but it's just old and new spellings.

I have a friend who lives in Purwokerto he is always telling me I should visit there before I decide where to settle down when I move to Indonesia.  I also like Semarang since it's on the coast and not too far from other major cities you can catch a train to.  I was thinking of a smaller area as opposed to Jakarta, Bandung or Yogyakarta which I loved when I visited there.  I might look at Purwokerto or Solo even but yeah I don't want to go where tourist are either.

Purwokerto is a personal favourite, but I'm not quite so keen on Semarang.
Purwokerto offers a quiet paced place to live, but has options for those who want clubs and bars, whilst Semarang is pretty much a mini Jakarta, just with slightly less of everything.
The traffic isn't quite as bad, the place doesn't flood as much, and there are far fewer shops.
That isn't to say it's a bad place, just not for someone who's trying to escape city life.