3 Ave, Upper East Side

With tree-lined green streets and charming brownstone town houses, this street - starting at Carnegie Hill and making its way east into Yorkville is an ideal, if somewhat pricey, neighborhood for families. The westernmost parts of the street (i.e., Fifth, Madison, and Park Avenues) are on the swanker side: the co-ops and brownstones here are very expensive, but Carnegie Hill is the closest thing New York City has to Disneyland: from old-school bookstores like The Corner Bookstore on Madison Avenue, to the playground at Hunter College High School, to high-end children's clothing sellers like Jacadi, Bonpoint, and Magic Windows (not to mention fantastic family-friendly eateries like Island, Bar 92, Bistrot de Nord, and Table d'Hote, all on or just off Madison Avenue), this is a paradise for parents. (The proximity of schools like Hunter, St. Bernard's, Spence, Nightingale, and - in the east - Chapin and Brearley doesn't hurt). While the further east you go, the less expensive (and oh-so-precious) the neighborhood becomes, Yorkville still has a lot to offer: buy organic groceries and tasty takeaways at the Vinegar Factory, or take the family to a day at the pool at the Asphalt Green. Or enjoy a picnic on scenic Carl Schurtz Park.

Snaking away from Museum Mile on Fifth Avenue, East 91st Street is located in tantalizing proximity to the Guggenheim, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jewish Museum, Cooper-Hewitt, and other popular Upper East Side tourism attractions. Closer to Central Park, the street's western section has a decidedly more upmarket character - tree-lined streets of brownstones, elegant cafes like the perennial popular UES bruncherie Island (only tourists go to Sarabeth's next door), and the oh-so-French Bistro de Nord. The nightlife is minimal, and mostly revolves around elegant dinners. Head further east, though, and you end up in a bizarre combination of frat house and prep school dorm. The bars in the East East 90's, especially around Lex and 3rd, seem to cater to a decidedly preppy clientele: great if you want to play beer bong, not so much fun if you took calculus in high school. Butif you can afford it, Carnegie Hill in the East 90's is one of the city's nicest family neighborhoods.

Birds are singing; flowers are blooming. Children are playing on stoops, eating ice cream cones. The scent of flower-blossoms lingers in the air. If you think such a phenomenon could never happen in New York City, then you've clearly never been to Carnegie Hill. Running from 86th to 96th Street, from 5th Avenue to Lexington, Carnegie Hill is an idyllic family neighborhood with plenty of Old World charm tucked away in the heart of the Upper East Side. And East 92nd Street, with its rows of picturesque brownstones meticulously kept (in no small part by the neighborhood board, which is so highly focused on historical preservation that no fast-food chain has been able to settle down in the neighborhood for decades) and blossoming trees, is the heart of Carnegie Hill. The famous Ciao Bella ice cream chain has a traditional parlor here between 5th and Madison, while the Madison Avenue stretch of the street (between 92nd and 93rd) offers plenty of neighborhood fare, including a local bookstore (with in-store cat mascot), grocery, and charming brunch places Island, Bistro du Nord, and the constantly-in-flux Bugsby's/Bar 92/Joanna's (the name and owners keep changing, but the quality is constantly high). Not ideal for the young and hip - but for those with the very youngest in tow or stroller - it's a perfect family neighborhood.