Topkapi Palace and Harem Small-Group Tour with Fast-Track Entry

The Fountain of Sultan Ahmed III and the first courtyard

The tour begins at the Fountain of Sultan Ahmed III, the domed rococo fountain of 1728 that stands between the back of Hagia Sophia and the Imperial Gate of Topkapi Palace; your guide gathers the group here, hands out the fast-track tickets and explains the layout of the palace, which was begun in 1459 on the tip of the historic peninsula and housed the sultans until the court moved to Dolmabahçe in 1856. Knowing the four-courtyard plan in advance is what makes a Topkapi Palace guided tour worth far more than a ticket alone.

Through the Imperial Gate lies the first courtyard, once open to the public, with the Byzantine church of Hagia Irene on the left and plane trees shading the path. The group walks straight to the Gate of Salutation, where the fast-track line saves the queue that forms every morning by ten.

The second courtyard: Imperial Council and kitchens

Beyond the twin-towered Gate of Salutation is the second courtyard, the administrative heart of the empire, where ambassadors were received and the Janissaries lined up for pay. On the left your guide takes you into the Imperial Council chamber, where the viziers met under a gilded dome while the sultan listened from a grilled window above, and shows the Tower of Justice that rises over it.

On the right stretch the palace kitchens, ten domed halls with tall chimneys where 800 cooks prepared meals for several thousand people a day; today they display the palace's Chinese and Japanese porcelain, the largest such collection outside East Asia, and the copper cauldrons of the kitchens themselves. Allow about 40 minutes for this courtyard before the Gate of Felicity.

The third courtyard: Treasury and Sacred Relics

The Gate of Felicity leads into the sultan's private domain. Directly inside is the Audience Hall, the kiosk where the sultan received the grand vizier and foreign envoys, and behind it the library of Ahmed III. Your guide then takes you to the Imperial Treasury, the reason many people search for Topkapi Palace tickets: the emerald-hilted dagger, the 86-carat Spoonmaker's Diamond, jewelled thrones and armour, displayed in the rooms of the former treasury pavilion.

Opposite are the Sacred Relics rooms, the Chamber of the Holy Mantle, where belongings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad and his companions have been kept since the 16th century, with the Qur'an recited continuously; visitors are asked for quiet and modest dress. This is the most moving part of the palace for many guests, and the guide explains the history of each object.

The fourth courtyard and the terrace

The fourth courtyard is the garden of pavilions: the tiled Baghdad Kiosk and Yerevan Kiosk built to celebrate campaigns of the 1630s, the Circumcision Room with its blue Iznik panels, and the gilded Iftar Pavilion, a bronze canopy on the edge of the marble terrace where the sultans broke their fast in Ramadan. From the terrace the view opens over the Golden Horn, Galata Tower, the Bosphorus and the Asian shore, the best panorama inside the Old City.

The guide gives the group ten minutes here for photographs. Below the terrace lies the lower garden with the Mecidiye Kiosk, the last building added to the palace; the group then returns through the courtyards to the Harem entrance beside the Imperial Council.

The Harem

The Harem is a palace within the palace, some 300 rooms where the sultan's mother, wives, children and the eunuchs who guarded them lived, and a separate ticket that is included here. Your guide leads you along the Golden Road, through the courtyard of the black eunuchs, into the apartments of the Queen Mother, the most powerful woman in the empire, and on to the Imperial Hall, the domed reception room with its canopied throne, musicians' gallery and 17th-century Iznik tiles.

The tour ends in the Twin Kiosks, the apartments of the crown princes, and the courtyard of the favourites, with the guide explaining how the Harem actually worked as a household and a school rather than the fantasy of later painters. The Harem takes about 45 minutes; the whole visit ends near the Imperial Gate, two minutes from Hagia Sophia.