Being a student of all things IFR at the moment makes me quite curious about that and so I thought it might be interesting to compare how this is being handled in different parts of Europe.
@boscomantico explained it already. In Germany RADAR guides you down to the MRVA and from there on you are expected to be VMC for a subsequent landing at a VFR airport. The other option is to use the IAP at a nearby airport to descent until VMC.
In case I am not VMC by then, I can simply land at the IFR airport. Question: should one do the missed approach first or switch to a full-stop landing? I tend to think that a missed approach followed by an approach to land should be done. I am likely not configured to land when doing the cloud breaking.
I’ve looked at a few combinations of IFR airport with a nearby VFR airport in Germany. It appears to me that the minimum altitude at which I want to be VMC is at the very least the altitude of the traffic pattern and above the highest obstacle between the two airports.
How is this being done in other parts of Europe?
Question: should one do the missed approach first or switch to a full-stop landing?
Full stop landing. There are places like Frankfurt that (on the rare occasions when they accept it at all) will let you do the cloudbraking approach for Egelsbach under the condition that you have to be able to cancel IFR at 1000ft AGL otherwise you must land at Frankfurt.
I’ve looked at a few combinations of IFR airport with a nearby VFR airport in Germany. It appears to me that the minimum altitude at which I want to be VMC is at the very least the altitude of the traffic pattern and above the highest obstacle between the two airports.
Well if you are visual then you don’t HAVE to be above the highest obstacle as you can avoid it visually. It is however obviously a good idea in the marginal VMC you often get on these sort of approaches.
will let you do the cloudbraking approach for Egelsbach under the condition that you have to be able to cancel IFR at 1000ft AGL otherwise you must land at Frankfurt.
You could develop an awfully interesting human factors case on that one 
You have to cancel IFR (and, presumably, call “visual”) at/above 1000ft AAL or you get a … how much? … €500 bill.
OTOH I can well see why Frankfurt doesn’t want people going down its ILS and breaking off at 300ft AAL…
You can always execute a missed approach – it’s pilot discretion (as well as canceling IFR).
Yes, but from a missed approach you cannot proceed VFR in 200 ft :-) You’ll have to come back for landing or go to the alternate!
Right, but I do not have to land in $rank$urt.
Right, but I do not have to land in $rank$urt.
No. But then you must question yourself why you wanted to fly to Egelsbach in the first place. If you can afford (in terms of time lost and costly flying hours and approach fees) to try an approach into Frankfurt, go around, and then divert to somewhere more distant and drive all the way back to Egelsbach you could certainly have afforded the landing fees in Frankfurt as well. Probably even saved some money depending on how much you value your own time.
There may be trillions of reasons not to land in Frankfurt. I could try a cloud breaking there to get to Egelsbach and execute a MA at minimum and e.g. divert to Mannheim and then use a train to Frankfurt. But I’m not obliged to do a full stop at Frankfurt.
at the very least the altitude of the traffic pattern
I should even think one wants/needs to be visual when beginning to join the circuit (aka integration) which is often at 500’ higher than the circuit.
