diff --git a/builder/amazon/common/access_config.go b/builder/amazon/common/access_config.go
index 16dde5965..cb97ff91e 100644
--- a/builder/amazon/common/access_config.go
+++ b/builder/amazon/common/access_config.go
@@ -149,11 +149,9 @@ func (c *AccessConfig) Prepare(ctx *interpolate.Context) []error {
 
 	if c.RawRegion != "" && !c.SkipValidation {
 		ec2conn := getValidationSession()
-		valid, err := ValidateRegion(c.RawRegion, ec2conn)
+		err := ValidateRegion(c.RawRegion, ec2conn)
 		if err != nil {
 			errs = append(errs, fmt.Errorf("error validating region: %s", err.Error()))
-		} else if !valid {
-			errs = append(errs, fmt.Errorf("Unknown region: %s", c.RawRegion))
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/builder/amazon/common/access_config_test.go b/builder/amazon/common/access_config_test.go
index c3e5a4f74..c94d78bff 100644
--- a/builder/amazon/common/access_config_test.go
+++ b/builder/amazon/common/access_config_test.go
@@ -17,20 +17,20 @@ func TestAccessConfigPrepare_Region(t *testing.T) {
 	mockConn := &mockEC2Client{}
 
 	c.RawRegion = "us-east-12"
-	valid, _ := ValidateRegion(c.RawRegion, mockConn)
-	if valid {
+	err := ValidateRegion(c.RawRegion, mockConn)
+	if err == nil {
 		t.Fatalf("should have region validation err: %s", c.RawRegion)
 	}
 
 	c.RawRegion = "us-east-1"
-	valid, _ = ValidateRegion(c.RawRegion, mockConn)
-	if !valid {
+	err = ValidateRegion(c.RawRegion, mockConn)
+	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("shouldn't have region validation err: %s", c.RawRegion)
 	}
 
 	c.RawRegion = "custom"
-	valid, _ = ValidateRegion(c.RawRegion, mockConn)
-	if valid {
+	err = ValidateRegion(c.RawRegion, mockConn)
+	if err == nil {
 		t.Fatalf("should have region validation err: %s", c.RawRegion)
 	}
 
diff --git a/builder/amazon/common/ami_config.go b/builder/amazon/common/ami_config.go
index 7e44ae34a..fe3b0949c 100644
--- a/builder/amazon/common/ami_config.go
+++ b/builder/amazon/common/ami_config.go
@@ -112,11 +112,9 @@ func (c *AMIConfig) prepareRegions(ec2conn ec2iface.EC2API, accessConfig *Access
 
 			if !c.AMISkipRegionValidation {
 				// Verify the region is real
-				valid, err := ValidateRegion(region, ec2conn)
+				err := ValidateRegion(region, ec2conn)
 				if err != nil {
 					errs = append(errs, fmt.Errorf("error validating region: %s", err.Error()))
-				} else if !valid {
-					errs = append(errs, fmt.Errorf("Unknown region: %s", region))
 				}
 			}
 
diff --git a/builder/amazon/common/regions.go b/builder/amazon/common/regions.go
index b76e1db57..eb8bba19b 100644
--- a/builder/amazon/common/regions.go
+++ b/builder/amazon/common/regions.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package common
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/session"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/ec2"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/ec2/ec2iface"
@@ -30,16 +31,17 @@ func listEC2Regions(ec2conn ec2iface.EC2API) ([]string, error) {
 
 // ValidateRegion returns true if the supplied region is a valid AWS
 // region and false if it's not.
-func ValidateRegion(region string, ec2conn ec2iface.EC2API) (bool, error) {
+func ValidateRegion(region string, ec2conn ec2iface.EC2API) error {
 	regions, err := listEC2Regions(ec2conn)
 	if err != nil {
-		return false, err
+		return err
 	}
 
 	for _, valid := range regions {
 		if region == valid {
-			return true, nil
+			return nil
 		}
 	}
-	return false, nil
+
+	return fmt.Errorf("Invalid region: %s", region)
 }