How does HTTPS work, end to end, when you visit a website?

Visiting https://example.com involves several layers working together, in order:

1. DNS lookup        Browser asks: "what is the IP address for example.com?"
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2. TCP connection     Browser opens a TCP connection to that IP, usually on port 443
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3. TLS handshake      Browser and server agree on TLS version, cipher suite,
                      verify the server's certificate, and derive a shared key
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4. HTTP over TLS      Browser sends the HTTP request, encrypted
                      Server sends the HTTP response, encrypted
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5. Page rendering     Browser decrypts the response and renders the page

Step by step:

1. DNS resolution — the domain name is turned into a server IP address.
2. TCP handshake — a reliable connection is set up between browser and server (the standard TCP SYN / SYN-ACK / ACK exchange).
3. TLS handshake — covered in detail in the next question. This is where encryption gets set up and the server's certificate gets checked.
4. Encrypted HTTP exchange — once the handshake finishes, every request and response is encrypted using the shared key from the handshake.
5. Rendering — the browser decrypts the response and displays the page.

All of this typically happens in well under a second. Modern TLS (version 1.3) is designed specifically to keep step 3 as fast as possible, since it adds a full round trip of network latency before any real data can be sent.