The Temple of Heaven and it's surrounding gardens is well worth a visit, particularly in the early morning. At this time it is full of local people engaging in Tai Chi, dancing, music and singing. It helps to give you a feel of how the people of Beijing like to start and continue their days ,particularly with the informal gatherings that start singing Chinese songs and thereby displaying their great pride in their nation. Despite the numbers of people at the site, it still manages to maintain a feeling of tranquility and gives the visitor an understanding of some of the more traditional activities of the locals.

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is architecturally the neatest-looking and most iconic building in the Temple Complex and is also the largest wooden building in China. The sprawling gardens are a great refuge from the busy, smoggy city and are filled with locals out on a stroll or practicing their stretches or musical instruments. I did find it a little less chaotic in the evening at sundown.

This was one of my favorites when I visited in October 2006. As others have said, walking through the park on Sunday afternoon and watching the locals singing, dancing, playing musical instruments and gambling was fascinating. The temple itself is awesome; hard to believe it all fits together without a single nail.

A great spot in Beijing, although tends to be crowded and you are not allowed inside the temple and can only look in from the outside. The temple is surrounded by a very nice park, which is also worth checking out. The park is full of elderly locals playing cards, chess or doing tai-chi.

That's probably my favorite temple in Beijing.
Beautiful garden, very large space and AMAZING temples!You should go there at the morning so you can enjoy the view of ppl dancing and playing around there