For buyers looking beyond the region’s more familiar country-house markets, this Essonne property makes a clear case for the quieter side of Île-de-France. Less than an hour south of Paris, it pairs a renovated five-bedroom house with an indoor swimming pool, and just over eight acres of leafy grounds.

A 1965 Big Sur residence, reworked in the 1990s by architect Mickey Muennig, is set on a forested bluff along California’s Highway 1 within walking distance of the Esalen Institute.