I like to have transmitted on each radio prior to departure, so I tend to do tower on Comm 1, with departure in the flip flop... And ATIS in Comm 2 with Clearance Delivery in the flip flop if IFR and Ground if not.
In cruise Comm 1 gets ATC, Comm 2 is handling monitoring duty of Guard or enroute ATIS/AWOS or the increasingly rare chats with an FSS.
Before arrival, ATIS and Ground go back in Comm 2.
But...
This method isn't my favorite if the radios don't have a flip flop feature. I'll alternate radios in that case, using the Comm selector as a flip flop, so I can always go back to the last known good frequency with a switch flip -- and not having to reference the notepad for the prior frequency, even though it's there.
So I'd say ... it depends somewhat on the feature set of the radios involved and the intercom system.
Highest workload is a single Comm radio by far. That's write it all down and then set it. Much nicer to pre-set and be ahead of the game.
As long as terrain isn't blocking me, if I'm paying attention and thinking ahead I can usually let a controller know I have the ATIS at the landing airport during my initial call up to Approach in that area.
Can't tell ya how much that seems to endear them to you... They immediately know that you know the next step in the game, and it's one less question they have to ask of you.
"XYZ Approach, Skylane 79M, eight thousand two hundred, decending seven thousand five hundred, we have ATIS X-Ray at Podunk..." twenty miles out, gets you way better service than the usual back and forth and confused fumbling one hears all the time of VFR folk talking to Approach controllers.
Another trick. Have your plan ready if you think they'll give you something you won't understand completely. Like often happens with local visual checkpoints or whatever... And offer it up as an alternative.
"Skylane 79M are you familiar with the grain elevator north of the field?"
"Negative but we can take up a heading of XXX which will keep us north of the airport and report the airport in sight."
"Skylane 79M descend at pilot's discretion VFR, report airport in sight."
Think about what the controller is trying to do and work it into what your plan is, and it almost always works better than waiting to be prompted.
Similar sentiment recently when a Center controller kept calling out skydive traffic ahead of me on a route where I would overfly the airport they were jumping at.
"Skylane 79M, traffic now one to two o'clock, altitude indicates one three thousand climbing... they'll be dropping jumpers in a couple of minutes."
"Negative traffic, looking. We can give you a twenty degree left turn and stay there until he's finished his jump run, if that'd help... And we are listening to him on the other radio on CTAF. 79M."
It's a team effort. It helps if you can think about both your needs as PIC and their needs as controllers.
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