4 days at the end of February *Edited

Are you coming from USA, and thus will be jet lagged? That would be far too much activity for me on an arrival day, what with driving on opposite side of the road and potentially in not great weather. You are correct that you cannot see it all, and the list is so long you won't have time to enjoy some places because you'll be hurrying on to the next before it gets dark (check sunrise/sunset times - it will probably be dark by 6 p.m.). Personally, I'd cut out one of the ring roads to give yourself a break from the slow and stressful driving those roads entail. Kenmare as base for the third night is a lot of backtracking and doesn't make sense based on your route. You don't say when your flights arrive/depart, but that would be the deciding factor as to whether to bother with Dublin at all - if you have an early flight I would stay near airport so you can easily return car.

Thank you for responding! We will arrive in Dublin early Saturday morning (2/24) and depart from Dublin late afternoon back to Paris on Wed (02/28). My husband and I plan on breaking up driving responsibilities between us.

We have our Airbnb for three nights due to the minimum stay requirement. However, the cost for the three of us is still more economical if we decide to check out early and spend another night somewhere else.

That is a very ambitious itinerary, even when done in the summer with long hours of daylight. At the end of February, sun rise is around 7.30am and sunset about 6pm. On dull overcast days, it does get dark quickly and you don’t want to be driving Irish roads after dark!

Driving in Ireland is slow and will take a lot longer to cover distances than you might expect.

Your drive from Dublin to Kenmare via Powerscourt, Glendalough, Rock of Cashel and Blarney Castle is going to take 7+ hours without any stops.

Dingle Peninsula to Cliffs of Moher, Kylemore Abby, Burren to Galway
the following day.

Do you really intend doing all this in one day from Kenmare? Have you checked the route on a map? It is about 450 miles and will take about ten hours to drive without any stops. Kenmare to Galway without Dingle Peninsula or Kylemore Abbey is doable in a day. You are trying to push two days into one.

I think you need to have a rethink here...

I agree with wasleys - you're trying to cover too much ground in much too short a time.
Since your stay in Kenmare appears to be locked in I'd suggest that you consider flying from Dublin to the Kerry airport near Killarney - about an hour's drive from Kenmare - and collect your rental car there for a more relaxed exploration of Kerry and Dingle. There are two flights per day in each direction, one morning and the other in the afternoon. Doing it that way would ease your logistics somewhat and greatly reduce your time behind the wheel which, as you presently have it laid out, would be most of your time in the country ... and not much fun IMHO.

Apologies, having a very hard time tracking your edited itinerary changes compared to the original (sometimes it's easier to just post a reply to your own thread with an updated itinerary). It is still a little unclear whether you intend to spend any time in Dublin proper and for how long. For the time of year and your stated wish to go where things are open, the city probably will have more offerings. In any case you probably don't want a car in Dublin proper, so you'd want to ditch it if you're staying in city center.

Of the things on your list, Dingle peninsula was my favorite, but it's best with an overnight (or two) in Dingle itself (great music and pubs). But I probably wouldn't prioritize it on such a short visit, especially since you're flying in/out of Dublin and not a western airport. You might look at the itineraries for the two RS tours of Ireland - they spend way more time than you have but they might give you ideas for route: https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/ireland

Good luck.

Well, I think you are realizing you cannot see it all - and yes, Ireland is full of amazing places to see! However, as others have pointed out, daylight hours are shorter and you do NOT want to be driving after dark for very long. So by going in February, you have selected your trade-off. Every trip has trade offs.

Feb. 24: I really only see you have time for one stop. I would make it Glendalough or Rock of Cashel. If you drive inland to Kenmare from the airport, you go right past Rock of Cashel.
Feb. 25: Ring of Kerry.
Feb. 26: Skip Dingle. Drive to Galway via the Cliffs of Moher. Afterwards, you can drive through the Burren with a bit of a detour on your way to Galway.
Feb. 27: Drive the loop through the Connemara Nat’l Park with a stop at Kylemore Abbey, before you drive back to Dublin (this will be a long day).

But truth be told, I might suggest you cut even further. One idea (3 nights in Galway)
Feb. 24: Drive to Galway, with a detour to Glendalough for a couple of hours.
Feb. 25: Cliffs of Moher and the Burren (there’s quite a bit to see).
Feb. 26: Connemara and Kylemore Abbey.
Feb. 27: Make your way back to Dublin, maybe with stops at places like Clonmacnoise or Athlone or Belvedere House Gardens & Park (I am sure there are people here who will have better ideas than me). Spend the evening in Dublin.

In a similar vein, you could spend the three nights in Kenmare and skip Galway.

I.imagine you already have tickets to fly into Dublin from Paris. If not you should look at airports closer to the west coast if you can get tickets there from Paris. This would save you a lot of time getting from Dublin to.the West coast. When you do return. To Dublin be sure to allow three hours at the airport to clear US customs there .