In my AWS VPC, I would like to override requests to specific URLs via DNS, i.e. if one makes a request in an EC2 instance within my VPC to example.com, it should re-route to 127.0.0.1 (or any IP address really)
In Google Cloud I was able to do this via their Cloud DNS function, and I would have an A record with DNS name of @.example.com and a value of 127.0.0.1, which then applied to my network in Google Cloud - what's the equivilent of this on AWS? I've had a look round AWS but there's so many DNS options and i'm not sure which one I need.
I don't want to interfere with any other requests either, just specific ones where i'd like to override the routing so to speak.
I don't think "default route" is the correct term for what you are describing. That sounds more like a routing table thing, while what you are asking for is a DNS resolution feature.
In any case, what you are looking for is Route53 Private Hosted Zones.