Depending on your budget there are many options.
Cheapy joysticks come with a minimum amount of buttons and so you are dependent on the keyboard. Many "old timers" who flew with out a thumb switch/hat switch on their joystick years ago got very good at using the the number pad and is still something you can do.
Better sticks today $30-70 have hat switches and most use these to scan around, but again the number of buttons are limited.
High end sticks $75-200 have more buttons so that using the hats to look around doesn't take away what you have available. My CH products stick has 3 4-way hats and an 8 way-hat as well as a few buttons, all programmable. Add to that throttle units and you can have all kinds of options. I have a hat on my throttle that has all the views like my stick so if that hand is busy I can STILL take a quick look around.
The newest option is to get TrackIR. It's a head monitoring system that translates your small head movements to the ingame movements of looking/moving around in the cockpit.
Also in the game is setting to change hoe the views are displayed. Snap view means that the view "snaps" to which ever view you are signaling through your mouse or stick. Instant goes from one view to another instantly with no panning, and panning slides from view to view.
There is no "best way", you use what works for you. I use instant when I use my joystick buttons, but I love the panning TrackIR uses.
