The palace was built on a hill, next to the river Keratos. It covered an area of about 22.000 square meters. A town of approximately 100.000 people surrounded it. The palace itself contained more than 1.000 rooms on five floors. The main point of the complex is its central court oriented N-S and surrounded by four wings with the most important buildings. The palace';s walls were decorated with magnificent frescos, mostly representing religious ceremonies.
You enter the palace through the West Court. On the right side stands the bust of Evans and on the left you will see three circular storage pits (kouloures), which apparently were grain silos. Later, by the end of the Minoan era they were used for rubbish. A walkway leads from that spot to the Corridor of the Procession (it is named after the frescos, which depict a procession of young men and women bringing offerings to gods) and the South Propylon (the entrance of the palace). This imposing pillared entryway is decorated with a reproduction of the Cub-Bearer figure, which is part of the Procession fresco, now displayed in the Archeological Museum of Heraklion. On the south side of the Central Court you can admire the reproduction of the Priest-King Fresco. This replica, also known as the Prince of the Lilies, depicts a young man wearing a crown of feathers and lilies. On the south façade of the palace stand the Horns of Consecration, a Minoan symbol of the sacred bull.

The paved Central Court measures 60m by 30m and would have once been flanked by high walls on all four sides. It separates the official chambers and storage rooms on the west side of the palace from the private royal apartments on the east. According to one theory this courtyard was used for the celebration of religious ceremonies and the bull leaping. Others say it might have been Ariadne';s dance floor.

The Throne Room is in the northwestern corner of the Central Court. It has an Antechamber and a lustral basin, possibly for ritual purification. Because of the small size of this room scholars assume that it might have been the throne of a priestess. The stone throne has on both sides a copy of a fresco depicting two griffins, Minoan sacred symbols of power. In order to protect the Throne Room from overexposure it is now closed off with a wooden gate, however, in the Antechamber there is a wooden reproduction of the stone throne, so that visitors can take their photos, or sit on it. Next to the Throne Room there was a small sanctuary and a room with a kind of grill, which might have been the kitchen.

After the Throne Room you can climb the stairs leading to Evans';s reconstructed Piano Nobile. There were several reception halls in that part of the palace, as well as the Treasury. On the west side were the grand state apartments and the accounts office. It is here that archeologists found many Linear B clay tablets from the second palace period (c.1400 BC) containing bills. At the end of the Long Open Air Corridor, a stairway descends to the palace west magazines. These rooms were filled with storage jars (pithoi), which have held oil, wine, cereals and other products.