D&D 5E (2024) Thoughts on Infinite Staircase?

I have a question about When A Star Falls. This is just my ignorance from never having played a hexcrawl before. The hex map for the module has some artwork for each key location, including obvious smoke rising from settlements.

The characters receive a "crudely drawn" version of the region map at the adventure's start that clearly marks a couple of these key locations, but not all of them. It sounds like the travel and exploration is handled through Survival rolls/etc. to determine if the characters can find the precise location they are looking for, and there's no instructions about hiding anything on the hex map.

Am I correct in thinking I don't need to hide anything on the hex map from them, even if it makes it obvious what general directions they should go in?

Another nice touch on the map is there's actually art for each of the random encounters on some of the hexes, though I will have to tell the players that they don't magically find a griffon just by going to the hex with the griffon art.
For my playthrough, I didn't even bother with the hexcrawl aspect of it. From viewing the dead sages' memories, they got the sense that they needed to skirt around the mountains to the south to find the druid's valley. When they got close enough, the giant eagles guided them the rest of the way to the druid's home. After passing the druid's test and getting the info they needed from her, she gave them directions to the hunters' village. The hunters provided a guide up to the derro lair. This same guide took them across a mountain pass so they could reach the observatory more quickly. They then got directions from Shalfey on how to find the deep gnomes' lair.
 

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