Say the words "New York City," and you're sure to provoke a strong reaction from just about anyone. "Way too expensive," says one friend from Dallas. "Too big to get around with kids," says another from sprawling L.A., "and too crowded!" No one needs to tell me the downside of New York: I've lived here for 18 years, along with my wife, Lynn, and my sons Edwin, 14, and Anton, 11. Yet more than compensating for the sometimes colossal inconveniences comes a glory that makes this the greatest--and, if you ask us, the most family-friendly--city of all time. New York, after all, has the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and the United Nations. It's got world-class museums, from the American Museum of Natural History down to the little Forbes Museum, with its collection of antique toys and Fabergé eggs. And it has the quiet little pleasures that bind it all together, from a romp in bucolic Central Park to the salty deliciousness of a warm pretzel sold by a corner vendor.

New York is also a city resurgent. With crime down, tourism's up--way up. Each year, more than 30 million visitors arrive armed with cameras and guide maps to explore the city that never sleeps. They poke around Grant's Tomb, the gigantic Cathedral of St. John the Divine and the miniature Gothic delights of Belvedere Castle. They glide through New York Harbor aboard the free Staten Island Ferry. They come to see a city of the past (it was the nation's first capital), a city of the present (from the street, you can watch both MTV and the "Today" show being taped) and a city of the future (witness the Sony Wonder Technology Lab, a free interactive museum). Then they stop for a slice of the Best Pizza on Earth, available everywhere.

At its core, the Big Apple is a hometown kind of place. It just so happens that it's a hometown to more people than any other US city. To get the most out of it--to avoid the worst crowds, the most expensive places and the places that plain won't work with kids--it helps to have some inside information, and this is where my family can help. We've come up with the places that never miss, from museums to restaurants to shops. Visit them, and we promise: You'll never bad-mouth our little town again.

Please keep in mind that phone numbers, addresses, and prices are subject to change. Updated August 2005.