If you are having a 403 Forbidden error from CloudFront , that means your domain name is not linked to your CloudFront distribution and because CloudFront stays in front of your API GATEWAY you need to create a CNAME record pointing your domain name to your CloudFront target domain name in order for it to work. So, If you need to point your api to a custom domain name, all you have to do is following those 2 easy steps: 1 - CREATING YOUR CUSTOM DOMAIN NAME Go to the API GATEWAY console and click on the Custom Domain Name menu. Click on the Create Custom Domain Name button. Next, assign a certificate matching the same domain name you are creating and map to the root path and destination of your desired api. Lastly, copy the CloudFront Target Domain Name . You will need to paste that in your Route 53 record. 2 - CREATING A CNAME RECORD ON ROUTE 53 Create a CNAME record on Route 53 for the same custom domain name, assigning to it the CloudFront Target Domain. CONCLUSION ...