I'm creating new pages under Pages > Add new.
And creating my own page.php file from the ground up, what's the best way of displaying pages contents?
I guess not get_template_part( 'loop'), since there will be no posts, just static pages?
Actually, pages also use the loop to display contents, but there will only be one "post" to loop through. Pages are treated almost exactly the same way as single posts as far as reading and rendering content goes.
If you're creating your own page.php
file for a theme, take a look first at how Twenty Ten is put together. It's always easier to learn from others than to reinvent the wheel.