The First Court is entered through the Imperial Gate (Bab-i Humayun), which is located in the enclosure walls on the southwestern end of the grounds, directly behind Hagia Sophia. The gate remained open at all times when the court was not in use for a hunting party and was guarded by soldiers who resided in barracks inside the gate. This court consists of a large tree-filled green space with a few service buildings. One of these is the Byzantine Church of Hagia Irene, which the Ottomans used as an armory. Another was the Royal Mint (Dar'ül-Zarb-i Enderuni or Darphane-i Amire). Both of these buildings remain today. Aside from these, the First Court had barracks of employees in outer palace services (birun), the Hospital of the Pages and Janissaries, stables, warehouses, workshops, a woodyard and a market where produce from palace gardens were on sale for all. Used also by those who desired to hand petitions to the Divan, the first court was the site of most royal ceremonies. 

Entrance to the Second Court is through the Middle Gate (also called the Gate of Salutation or Bab-ül-Salaam) constructed at the beginning of the palace's life during the reign of Mehmed II. The gate was refurbished by Murad III in the late 16th century and no longer has its original gilded doors or portico. The court, enclosed on all four sides by halls with porticoes, has had little altered since the sixteenth/tenth century AH. To the left, the Stable Court (Has Ahır Meydanı) and the Barracks of the Halberdiers with Tresses (Zülüflü Baltacılar Koğuşu) - who, among other things, supplied burning wood for the Harem - are located next to the Carriage Gate (Araba Kapısı) of the Harem flanked by the Divan Hall and the Outer Treasury (Dış Hazine). The Imperial Kitchens (Mutfaklar) occupy the right side of the courtyard. The courtyard was once arranged as a miniature wood where gazelles, peacocks and ostriches were allowed to roam free. 

The Third Court:

The Third Court houses the palace school for pages (enderun), the sultan's headquarters and his treasury. It is entered through the Gate of Felicity (Bab'üs Saadet) that was guarded by the White Eunuchs. Their barracks and the dormitories of the new students used to flank the gate prior to a fire in 1856; they have since been rebuilt as offices. The Sultan met the members of the Divan every day in the Chamber of Petitions (Arz Odası), a large hall with a portico located immediately behind the gate. To the left are the Aviary Gate of the Harem and the exclusive kitchen of the Sultan next to the Mosque of the Aghas, which had separate sections for the pages and the harem women. Preceding the Royal Pavilion of Mehmed II (Has Oda) on the corner is the Dormitory of the 39 Senior Pages (Has Odalılar Koğuşu) who performed personal services for the Sultan. The Royal Pavilion was used for the safeguarding of the Holy Mantle and other relics of the prophet brought from Cairo by Selim I (1512-1520) after sultans moved their apartments from here into the harem following the second half of the 16th century. Across the courtyard from the Pavilion of the Holy Mantle is the Inner Treasury (Iç Hazine) or the Kiosk of Mehmed II. Royal treasures were stored here and in an adjoining room that previously belonged to the Pages' Hamam that Ahmed I (1603-1617) had replaced by a dormitory for the expeditionary force, known as Campaign Hall (Seferli Koğuşu). The three-story Library of Ahmed III occupies the center of the courtyard where the Pool Pavilion (Havuzlu Kösk) once stood. Dormitories of senior students in charge of the treasury and the cellars, The Hall of the Treasury (Hazine-i Hümayun Hademeleri Koğuşu) and the Department of the Pantry and Stores (Kilerli Koğuşu), separate the third court from the fourth. The halls of the third court are united by a portico that runs around the courtyard.

The Fourth Court:

Small passages between the Hall of the Treasury and the Department of the Pantry lead into the Fourth Court, a loose collection of kiosks built on three levels. To the right is the Terrace of Ibrahim I, that looks onto the Golden Horn and the Bosporus. The Pavilion of the Holy Mantle (Hirka-i Serif Dairesi) of the Third Court opens onto this terrace with an L-shaped colonnade that follows its walls and of which we find the Circumcision Kiosk (Sünnet Köskü) of Selim I and the Revan Kiosk (Revan Köskü) of Murad IV. The colonnade ends at the rear entrance of the Harem to the southwest. Baghdad Kiosk, built in 1639 to celebrate the capture of Baghdad, rises at the other end of the terrace. Descending to the upper-level of gardens, the Sofa or Terrace Kiosk (Sofa Köskü) and the Tower of the Chief Physician (Hekimbaşı Kulesi) are built on the retaining wall between the two levels. The newest structure here is the Mecidiye Kiosk (Mecidiye Köskü) that was built by Abdülmecid I at the eastern edge of the forth court where two older kiosks had stood. Nearby are the small Sofa or Terrace Mosque (Sofa Camii) and the Room of the Wardrobe (Esvap Odası). A gate adjacent to the Mecidiye Kiosk leads down into the outer gardens and to Seraglio Point.