A city. Or a small town with city level amenities and reachability. Some place where I don’t need a car for regular and even some irregular errands.
I’m quite pleased with where I am right now, a provincial capital in NL. If I’d have to scale down, Houten looks quite promising. If I’d be forced to scale up and leave the country, the four places that pop to my mind that interest me are Freiburg (DE), Vienna (AT), Helsinki (FI) and Oslo (NO).
LPT: find a plausible excuse to leave gatherings in a way that seems outside your control. This gives you an exit without seeming impolite. Between my parents, if one starts asking about the dogs, that’s their cue to start leaving. If they leave because “they need to take care of the dogs,” the hosts won’t have to know whether that means “we’d have loved to stay here but unfortunately, duty calls” or “we’d rather be spending time with our dogs than you guys.”