The lure of a few days in San Francisco is always enticing. On the last week in September, after the fog lifted, the sunlight bounced off the sparkling blue water in the bay. Coit Tower stood out like a beacon atop Telegraph Hill – the city at its feet.

San Francisco was made for human bipeds. History, restaurants, diverse cultures, architecture, shopping; San Francisco has it all, as well as being one of the most romantic cities in the world.

The city is the melting pot of the West: Little Italy, Chinatown, the Vietnam section and Mission district (Latino) are but a few of the distinct neighborhoods you’ll find here.

Wonderful aromas from Dim Sum kitchens fill the air. Time for lunch. But first, Shirley Fong-Torres’ Wok Wiz walking tour of Chinatown. Fong-Torres, chef for Hawaiian Airlines, and a noted cookbook author and humorist, adds a bright new dimension to a walk through Chinatown.

Those who wander Grant Avenue (it’s Grant Avenue in Chinatown and Grant Street in North Beach) and the nearby sidestreets can shop for exotic teas at the Red Blossom Tea Company, and hunger pangs are sure to emerge.

Fong-Torres introduces newcomers to the Imperial Palace and recommends the Dim Sum. The waiters bring surprises – mouthwatering morsels such as steamed dumplings, shrimp balls, spring rolls, steamed buns and Chinese pastries.

After a lunch like that, a trip to TRU Spa located in the Hilton is in order. Voted the best day spa in the city by ALLURE Magazine, TRU Spa is the perfect locale for digesting a meal and pampering the body.

But you’ll want to save some room at lunch for what’s coming next; a five-course Italian meal at Ristorante Ideale in North Beach.

Although the restaurant is walkable from the hotel, it’s great fun to hop on one of Mr. Toad’s vintage cars for a tour of North Beach before being delivered in style to the front door of Ristorante Ideale.

Maurizio Bruschi, owner/chef of this authentic Italian dining establishment, has been in San Francisco for 14 years. He produces food to delight the most jaded connoisseur’s palate, yet it’s hard to understand a word he says with his thick Italian accent.

In the Italian way, he communicates by waving his hands and gesturing. His food is delicious, in any language.

The next morning Daniel Bacon, historian and author of “Walking San Francisco on the Barbary Coast Trail,” guides visitors to well-marked bronze plaques in the sidewalk which mark the route.

Starting at Portsmouth Square, known as the birthplace of the California Gold Rush, Bacon makes history electric. His enthusiasm is contagious as he describes the historic moment of time – May 1848 – when the American River gold strike was announced for the first time in this square, then known as Yerba Buena.

Further along the trail, Bacon tells the story of how a change in the winds spared Hotaling Street and A.P. Hotaling’s supply of whiskey (he was the supplier to the entire Barbary Coast) during the fire that followed the 1906 earthquake.

As Bacon relates, many upright citizens were saying the disaster was retribution for San Francisco’s hedonistic ways, but one San Franciscan was inspired to write: “If, as they say, God spanked the town for being over frisky, why did he burn the churches down and spare Hotaling’s whiskey?”

The walking tour takes visitors by 601 Montgomery, headquarters of the Pony Express (1860-61) and now a historic landmark.

The youngest of the riders was a 14 year old who later became famous as Buffalo Bill Cody.

The Barbary Coast trail can take an entire day as it winds through downtown, Chinatown, the Barbary Coast, North Beach and the northern waterfront, terminating at Fisherman’s Wharf and Aquatic Park.

From there, take a Powell-Hyde Street Cable Car for a ride over historic Nob Hill, home of the bonanza kings and railroad barons to return to downtown. It’s possible to get off and on the cable car anywhere along the route, but you have to pay a new fee each time you jump back on. The ride ends back at the starting point of the tour across from the old U.S. Mint at Hallidie Plaza at Market where the BART Station and the Cable Car turnaround are located.

The Westfield San Francisco Centre on Market, on the site of the old Emporium building, is only a block or two away from the cable car turnaround, so it’s convenient to do some big city shopping. The glorious dome of the original store still exists. When the Emporium originally opened in 1896 it was hailed as the most elegant store in the country.

The Westfield Centre, which now occupies this space, is just as grand.

Bloomingdales opened its largest store outside of New York City at The Centre in September. Along with Nordstrom, also housed here, this is a don’t-miss opportunity to shop ’til you drop.

No trip to San Francisco is complete without dinner at one of the oldest and most reliable establishments in town: Sam’s Grill & Seafood Restaurant.

Make sure to reserve a booth, not a table. Make sure, too, to be served by Frank Morelli, who has waited tables at Sam’s for about 36 years. Don’t even bother to look at the menu. Let Morelli suggest.

A sure bet is a heaping plate of fresh fried calamari topped off by Morelli’s special salad. (You won’t find this on the menu). It’s enough to say that Clint Eastwood shares the same taste when he eats at Sam’s.

But even the best of trips end.

So, as you stroll the few blocks from Sam’s back to the hotel, the fog horns begin their mournful, melancholy evening wail. Stopping in the hotel’s lounge breaks this lonely mood. The warm fire and jazz vocalist Betty Fu’s repertoire is cheerful and brings to an end a perfect day.

?FINANCIAL DISTRICT HILTON

750 Kearny St., San Francisco

(415) 433-6600

www.SanFranciscoHiltonHotel.com

?BARBARY COAST TRAIL TOURS

(415) 454-2355

www.barbarycoasttrail.org

?IMPERIAL PALACE CHINESE RESTAURANT

816 Washington St.

?LOUIE’S CALIFORNIA CHINESE CUISINE

646 Washington St.

?MR. TOAD’S VINTAGE CAR TOURS

(877) 4MR-TOAD

www.mrtoadstours.com

?RED BLOSSOM TEA COMPANY

831 Grant Avenue

alice@redblossomtea.com

?RISTORANTE IDEALE

1315 Grant St.

?SAM’S GRILL & SEAFOOD RESTAURANT

374 Bush Street

(415) 421-0594

?WOK WIZ

Shirley Fong-Torres, Owner

(415) 981.8989

www.wokwiz.com