In a way...I'd go the PAINT route, considering it's Pine.

Keeping up a decent stained appearance over time will be a major pain, especially on intricate overhead stuff like that!!
A good 2nd choice would be SOLID Stain.
It can look a little more natural.

Faron

We had painted cedar and never had a problem in the 7 years we lived in that house.

I would recommend trying the solid paint stain AFTER talking to a qualified paint expert like Ben Moore or Sherwin Williams. I used stain paint on my screened porch last year and so far, it has held up. Looks just like paint, in fact I was a little surprised that it looked so solid. The staining was done over 4 year old pressure treated beams.

Could you please post a photo of your pergola? I'd love to see what you are speaking of with it being over your garage. Can't figure that one out.

We are in the process of building a pergola, and why I am over on this forum. Ours will be unattached to our roof and will be supported by synthetic painted columns. We will probably use cedar for the top, but like you, not sure what type of paint to use.

Here are some photos of my current porch with the solid stain, and a mock-up of the pergola. When we add the pergola, we will probably be recovering the porch post with cedar and repainting. With the inside being treated pine, and the outside of the porch being vinyl, it's a look that I have never been happy with. When I told my contractor that we would like a screened porch, I had envisioned something made of a smoother wood, with more detail, not something made of treated lumber.

We will also be adding a stone/brick outdoor fireplace similar to this look, with a place for the grill on one side and a planter/bar combo on the other.

I'd recommend a solid-body stain instead of paint on the pine.

newhomebuilder, I think they're referring to something like this:

{{!gwi}}

Cabot or the like exterior products, use Oil Based Primer top coat with an OVT Solid Stain for the best results from my experience dealing with painters.