Touring San Francisco with Chris Courtney

San Francisco tour guide Chris Courtney does what many other guides cannot: He makes you feel like a local.

Scooting people on and off city buses, hiking up and down hills and through neighborhoods usually ignored by tourists, Courtney is determined to give visitors a taste of the real San Francisco.

Courtney, who is in his mid-40s, had a simple reason for going into business for himself.

"I love this city, and I'm passionate about sharing it with people," he said as he embarked on a tour with a group of two -- a journalist and a visitor from New England. His tour, which he conducts Tuesdays through Saturdays, is a serious 5 1/2-hour trek that combines hiking, touring, bus and train riding and, perhaps, best of all, eating. 

What to expect

From the start of the tour, you know you're in good hands with the affable Courtney as he hands you your Clipper card, which will pay for your public transit. On this particular day, we jumped onto a cable car, and he demonstrated how to ride it like a native (yes, natives do ride the California Street cable car to and from work): You hang on the side and face out, fearlessly.

The walking part of the tour began in Chinatown, encompassing popular tourist spots such as Golden Gate Fortune Cookies, where a small crew, operating what looks like tiny waffle irons, crank out 60,000 cookies a day. Jack Kerouac Alley provides a gateway from Chinatown into North Beach, the predominantly Italian neighborhood home to the famous Beat poet bookshop City Lights and the graceful spires of St. Peter and Paul Church.

Bus rides followed, ferrying us to sites both obscure and celebrated (the switchback section of Lombard Street; Ghirardelli Square). At Fort Mason and the Marina, Courtney points out the homes of the rich and famous on the hills to the south, with the most notable being author Danielle Steel's massive abode, the former Spreckels Mansion.

Later, Courtney introduces his group to the joys of Hayes Valley, a quirky, nontouristy neighborhood full of restaurants, boutiques and art. We stop for lunch at Absinthe, a cafe with a gorgeous back patio. Then, it is on to Linder Street, where we stop at Dark Garden, a maker of custom corsets, and at Blue Bottle Coffee.

The tour winds down on the roof of the Crocker Galleria, a downtown shopping oasis. True to his word, Courtney has shared his hometown passion and revealed, certainly not all, but at least a generous portion of the real San Francisco.

IF YOU GO

The Real SF Tour

WHEN 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, from the California Street cable car turnaround at Market Street.

INFORMATION 888-973-8687, therealsftour.com

COST $50